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THE  ISOPIC  FABLES  IN  THE 

MIREOIR  HISTORIAL  OF  JEHAD  DE  VIGNAY 

j 


EDITED  WITH 


INTRODUCTION,   NOTES  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BY 


GUY  EVERETT  SNAVELY 


Dissertation 


SUBMITTED  TO  THE  BOARD  OP    UNIVERSITY  STUDIES   OF    THE   JOHNS   HOPKINS    UNIVERSITY 

IN  CONFORMITY   WITH  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY. 


BALTIMORE 

J.    H.  FURST    COMPANY 
1908 


BESANCON,  BIBLIOTHEQUE  MUNICIPALE, 

434,  FO.  371  vo.,  COL.  ],  TOP. 

(BKDUCED.) 


THE  mm  FABLES  IN  THE 
MIREOIR  HISTORIAL  OF  JEHAN  DE  VIG1Y 


EDITED   WITH 


INTRODUCTION,   NOTES  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BY 


GUY   EVERETT   SNAVELY 


dissertation 


SUBMITTED  TO  THE  BOARD  OF    UNIVERSITY  STUDIES    OF    THE    JOHNS    HOPKINS    UNIVERSITY 

IN  CONFORMITY   WITH  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY. 


BALTIMORE 

J.    H.  FURST    COMPANY 
1908 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS-1 


PAGE. 
FACSIMILE  OF  THE  BESANCON  MANUSCRIPT,         -        -        Facing  Title-Page. 

TITLE-PAGE, 1 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS, 3 

PREFATORY  NOTE,  5 

LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS, 

PART      I.   Introduction,  7 

a.   Biographical  Notice,      -- -  7 

6.    Literary  Work, 16 

c.  Influence  on  English  Literature, 28 

d.  Latin  Source  of  the  Fables,    -  31 

e.  Scheme  of  Fable  Manuscripts,        ------          36 

PART    II.   Critical  Text  with  Manuscript  Variants,        - 

PART  III.   Appendices, .-_- 

a.  Books  of  Reference,       -------- 

b.  Manuscripts  of  Jehan  de  Viguay,  ------ 

c.  Editions  of  Jehan  de  Vignay, 

d.  Editions  of  the  English  Translations,     - 

e.  Chart  preserved  in  the  Archives  Nationales  at  Paris, 
BIOGRAPHY, ---         47 


xThe  whole  of  Parts  II  and  III  have  been  omitted,  as  well  as  a  portion  of 
Part  I,  e. ,  and  the  List  of  Abbreviations. 


173291 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


While  working  on  ^Esopic  Fable  Literature  as  a  member  of 
the  Romance  Seminary  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  the 
Spring  of  1903,  my  attention  was  attracted  to  the  short  col- 
lection of  ^Esopic  fables  contained  in  Jehan  de  Vignay's  Mireoir 
Historial.  Upon  investigation  it  appeared  that  no  critical 
study  of  these  fables  had  hitherto  been  made,  nor  had  the  text 
of  them  ever  been  published.  Indeed,  very  little  was  known 
concerning  the  life  and  works  of  this  once  popular  Old-French 
author,  aside  from  the  frequent  occurrence  of  his  manuscripts. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  G.  C.  Keidel,  who  allowed  me 
to  make  use  of  his  notes  on  manuscripts  in  European  libraries, 
and  through  personal  research  in  various  libraries  both  in  this 
country  and  abroad,  I  have  been  able  to  make  out  a  list  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-two  manuscripts  of  Jehan  de  Vignay  that 
are  still  extant.  Several  short  and  very  incomplete  lists  of 
his  manuscripts  had  previously  been  made  by  various  scholars, 
but  none  of  them  were  serious  attempts  at  making  a  fairly  com- 
plete manuscript  bibliography  for  this  author.1 

In  connection  with  my  work  on  this  subject  I  have  made  use 
of  the  private  library  of  Prof.  A.  Marshall  Elliott  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  of 'the  libraries  of  the  Peabody  Institute 
and  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  Baltimore,  and  of  the 
Library  of  Congress  in  Washington.  During  the  summer  of 
1905  I  worked  on  the  original  manuscripts  and  incunabulum 
editions  also  of  the  British  Museum  in  London  and  of  the 
Bibliotheque  Rationale  in  Paris. 

*Cf.  Paul  Meyer,  Romania,  Vol.  xxv  (1906),  pp.  405-423;  Gustav  Grober, 
Grundriss  der  Romanischen  Philologie,  Vol.  n,  Part  I,  p.  990;  and  also  an 
unpublished  list  of  manuscripts  of  the  Mireoir  Historial  made  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Romance  Seminary  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

5 


6  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

As  a  basis  of  work  on  the  Old-French  text  I  had  at  hand 
before  going  abroad  a  photographic  copy  of  the  manuscript 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Municipale  of  Besanc,on,  kindly  made  for 
me  in  1905  by  Dr.  M.  P.  Brush  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity. 

During  my  stay  in  Europe  in  the  summer  of  1905  I  collated 
two  additional  manuscripts  in  the  Bibliotheque  Rationale  at 
Paris;  and  I  have  since  had  the  remaining  Paris  manuscripts 
copied  by  a  professional  copyist,  as  also  the  manuscript  in  Lei- 
den. The  manuscripts  in  the  Vatican  Library  and  the  British 
Museum,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  had  photographed  for  my 
use  in  preparing  this  edition. 


PART  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 


A.     BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTICE. 

Prominent  among  the  many  translators  of  Latin  works  into 
Old-French  prose  is  a  fourteenth  century  author  named  Jehan 
de  Vignay.  His  work  as  a  translator  is  notable  not  only  for 
its  unusual  extent,  but  also  for  the  great  popularity  which  it 
enjoyed  during  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  even  the  sixteenth 
centuries. 

It  seems  strange  that  we  should  know  so  little  about  the  life 
of  an  author  of  such  note  as  Jehan  de  Vignay;  but  unfortu- 
nately the  information  on  this  subject  found  in  his  own  works 
seems  to  be  very  meager,  and  the  evidence  outside  of  these  is 
also  extremely  scanty.  One  thing  at  least  is  certain,  namely, 
that  our  author  was  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Jacques,  living 
about  the  time  of  the  last  kings  of  the  main  Capetian  line,  and 
that  of  Philippe  VI  (1328-1350).  It  was  by  the  order  of  the 
wife  of  the  latter,  Jeanne  de  Bourgogne,  that  he  made  most  of 
his  translations;  and  it  was  to  her  also  that  he  usually  dedi- 
cated them.  One  translation — le  Livre  des  Eschez — he  dedi- 
cated to  Philippe's  oldest  son,  Jehan  de  France,  Due  de  iSTor- 
mandie.  In  fact  he  was  for  many  years  held  in  high  esteem 
at  the  royal  court  under  whose  patronage  he  worked.  This  is 
attested  by  the  fact  that  the  manuscripts  copied  during  the  au- 
thor's lifetime  were  on  a  magnificent  scale,  and  were  beauti- 
fully illuminated,  being  intended  for  the  most  part  for  the  pri- 
vate libraries  of  the  royal  family.1  In  acknowledgment  of 

1Cf.  Delisle's  article  on  the  Manuscrits  royales  of  the  Mireoir  Historial, 
in  the  Gazette  Archtologique,  Vol.  xi  (1886),  pp.  37-101. 

7 


8  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

these  honors  Jehan  de  Vignay  in  the  great  majority  of  the  intro- 
ductions or  colophons  to  his  translations  makes  humble  obeisance 
coupled  with  well-wishes  for  the  continuance  of  prosperity  to 
all  the  members  of  the  "  ligne  des  fleurs  de  lys." 

Before  going  into  the  details  of  the  life  of  our  author  it  may 
be  appropriate  briefly  to  discuss  the  probable  spelling  of  his 
name.  It  is  found  with  many  variant  spellings  in  its  French 
form,  and  in  one  Latin  form,  if  the  names  in  question  are  to  be 
identified.  The  latter  is  Johannes  Vignacus.  The  French  va- 
riants are: 

1.  Jehan  du  Vingnai, 

2.  Jean  du  Vignay, 

3.  Jehan  de  Vignay, 

4.  Jean  de  Vignay, 

5.  Jean  de  Vignai. 

These  are  the  usual  interchangeable  forms  in  the  manuscripts 
I  have  seen,  but  we  find  P.  Paris  1  in  his  catalog  of  manuscripts 
giving  in  addition, — Jean  de  Vignoy,  de  Vingnoy,  de  Vygnai 
and  de  Bignay.  The  former  variant,  Vignoy,  is  also  used  in 
a  chart  2  preserved  in  the  Archives  Rationales,  which  is  given 
in  the  Appendix.3  The  latter  spelling,  Bignay,  occurs  also  in 
the  catalog  of  manuscripts  of  the  Library  of  the  University  of 
Turin4  (officially  known  as  the  Biblioteca  Nazionale  di  Torino). 

In  all  the  fourteenth  century  manuscripts  the  first  name  is 
written  Jehan.  Of  course  this  is  merely  an  older  spelling  for 
Jean,  which  has  become  the  accepted  modern  French  form,  and 
even  in  the  author's  lifetime  Jean  and  Jehan  were  both  in  use. 
This  is  easily  to  be  noticed  in  the  chronicles  of  the  period  since, 
for  example,  we  find  Philippe's  son  and  successor  mentioned 

*P.  Paris,  Manuscrits  frangois,  Vol.  I,  pp.  53  sqq. 

2 Archives  Nationales,  Trfeor  des  Chartes,  Reg.  LXI  (Charles  le  Bel, 
1321-1323),  Vol.  i,  cote  JJ  61. 

8  Appendix  e. 

4Pasiims,  Codices  MS8.  Bibl.  Regii  Taurinensis,  Taurini,  1749,  Vol.  II, 
p.  438.  In  two  other  references  here,  pp.  476,  479,  we  find  Vignay. 
These  manuscripts  were  probably  destroyed  in  the  disastrous  fire  of  1904. 


JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  9 

occasionally  as  Jehan  of  Normandy,  and  again  as  Jean  of  Nor- 
mandy. Hence  we  discard  Jean  as  a  modernized  product,  and 
on  the  evidence  of  more  and  older  manuscript  readings  adopt 
Jehan  as  the  probable  writing  of  his  Christian  name. 

With  respect  to  the  variations  de  and  du,  it  seems  that  the 
manuscript  evidence  would  indicate  de  as  more  probably  correct. 
Both,  however,  appear  in  the  older  manuscripts,  although  de 
occurs  more  than  twice  as  often  as  du  in  the  manuscripts  that 
I  have  examined. 

The  last  part  of  our  author's  name,  Vignay,  was  no  doubt 
originally  derived  from  the  Latin  form  Vignacus  as  used  by 
Haureau.1  In  the  researches  of  Jubaiiiville  on  the  subject  of 
the  development  of  place  names,2  we  find  the  general  rule  that 
-acus  gave  -ay  in  North  France,  and  -ac  in  Provence  (-ach  in 
the  Celtic  dialects).  Thus  we  obtain  from  Turnacus  (formed 
on  Turnus)  the  form  Tournay  in  Normandy,  and  Tournac  in 
Gascony.  Of  course  some  place  names  have  remained  with  the 
variant  ending  -ai,  as  Cambrai,  out  of  Camaracus.  Evidently, 
then,  our  form  Vignay  (or  Vignai)  came  from  a  Latin  term 
referring  to  the  vine;  and  probably  belongs  to  the  same  group 
of  derivative  names,  to  which  belong  de  Vignais,  de  Vigny,  De 
Lavigne.3  At  present  there  are  two  communes  in  France  named 
Vignay.4  One  is  in  the  Departement  de  TAriege  in  the  ex- 
treme South  of  France ;  the  other  in  the  Departement  de  Seine- 
et-Oise.  As  the  latter  is  near  Paris  and  in  what  was  the  old 
ile-de-France  province,  it  is  very  likely  that  our  author  came 
from  there. 

The  form  Bignay  which  occurs  in  the  Turin  catalog  5  can 


JB.  Haur6au,  Histoire  Litleraire  de  la  France,  Tome  xxx,  Paris,  1888, 
pp.  289  sqq.:  Jean  de  Vignay,  Graramarien,  Professeur  a  Dijon. 

2  H.  de  Jubainville,  Recherches  sur  I'origine  de  la  Propriete  Fonciere  et 
des  Noms  de  Lieux  habites  en  France,  Paris,  1890,  pp.  170  sqq.;  pp.  467  sqq. 

3  See  J.  Sabatier,  Encyclopedic  des  Noms  Propres,  Paris,  1865,  pp.  151, 
188. 

4  See  Gindre  de  Nancy,  Dictionnaire  des  Communes  de  la  France,  Paris, 
1885,  p.  904. 

5  Pasinus,  loc.  cit. 


10  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

be  explained  as  a  simple  variant  spelling  common  in  Italy,  sines 
b  and  v  were  easily  interchanged  in  early  Italian.1  It  may  also 
be  borne  in  mind  that  h  and  v  very  much  resemble  each  other  in 
many  late  French  manuscripts.  Likewise,  we  know  that  the 
French  language  was  very  unstable  during  the  early  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century,2  and  thus  would  arise  the  variants  ending  in 
-oy,  just  as  we  have  the  old  form  estoy  for  modern  etais.  Thus 
we  have  accounted  for  all  the  variants  of  Vignay,  except  Ving- 
nai,  found  in  the  oldest  manuscript  of  the  Mireoir  Historial.3 
This  latter  form  incorporates  an  n  before  the  g  solely  to  indicate 
that  the  gn  was  nasal. 

Now  we  have  eliminated  all  the  forms  except  Vignay  and 
Vignai,  either  of  which  the  spelling  of  the  time  in  its  variable- 
ness would  permit.  To  compare  the  relative  frequency  in  the 
occurrence  of  each  form  I  have  noted  twelve  spellings  from  the 
earlier  manuscripts  themselves.  Of  these  twelve  forms  one 
is  written  Jehan  du  Vingnai4  four  are  spelled  Jehan  du  Vig- 
nay,,5 and  seven  have  the  form  Jehan  de  Vignay.Q  In  the  last 
group,  one  manuscript  7  is  dated  1348,  which  date  was  but 

1  Cf.  Parodi,  Del  Passagio  di  Vin  B  e  di  Certe  Perturbazioni  delle  Leggi 
FoneticTie  nel  Latino  Volgare,  Romania,  Vol.  xxvii  (1898),  pp.  177-240. 

2  On  this  subject  cf.  M.  Brunot's  article  on  Le  xive  Siecle,  pp.  533  sqq.  in 
Petit  de  Julleville's  Litterature  francaise,  Vol.  n.     Cf.  also  infra,  p.   12, 
where  is  quoted  a  passage  from  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

3  Paris,  Bibl.  Nationale,  fr.  316.     For  a  photograph  and  facsimile  from 
this  manuscript  cf.    Suchier   und   Birch-Hirschfeld,    Geschichte   der  Fran- 
zosischen  Litteratur,  opp.  p.  261. 

4  The  form  Jehan  du  Vingnai  is  the  one  adopted  by  Jordan,  Jehan  du 
Vingnai  und  sein  Kirchenspiegel    (Halle   dissertation,    1905),   p.   5.     The 
reason  given  by  Dr.  Jordan  for  adopting  this  form  is  that  it  is  found  in 
MS.  B.  N.  f.  316,  in  his  opinion  from  the  pen  of  Jehan  de  Vignay  himself. 
However  at  the  beginning  and  close  of  the  Mirouer  de  I'Eglise,  the  text  of 
which  he  publishes,  the  form  used  is  Jehan  de  Vignay.     Dr.  Jordan  also 
mentions  in  this  connection  the  other  usual  spellings  to  be  found  in  the 
manuscripts. 

5Carpentras,  Bibl.  Mun.,  402;  London,  British  Museum,  Royal  19.  D.  i: 
Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.  242;  Ashburnham-Barrois,  19. 

6Bruxelles,  Bibl.  Royale,  9467;  La  Valliere-Sale,  no.  263;  Paris,  Bibl. 
Nat.  fr.  241,  244,  245,  19810;  Roma,  Bibl.  Vaticana,  Reg.  1678. 

7  Paris,  Bibl.  Nationale,  fr.  241. 


Fables  in  JeJian  de  Vignay.  11 

some  fifteen  years  after  the  original  work  of  de  Vignay  was  fin- 
ished. This  fact,  proximity  in  date,  ought  to  be  of  much  im- 
portance in  deciding  the  proper  spelling  of  our  author's  name. 

Accepting  these  data,  we  must  assume  that  the  usual  spelling 
of  our  author's  name  in  his  own  time  was  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

Let  us  now  pass  to  the  main  facts  of  the  author's  life.  I 
have  not  been  able  to  find  any  information  concerning  him  in 
the  leading  histories  of  French  literature,  except  the  bare  men- 
tion that  Jehan  de  Vignay  was  a  translator  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  following  histories  of  Old-French  Literature  mention  him : 

1.  Petit  de  Julleville,  LUterature  frangaise,  Paris,   1896; 

Vol.  II,  pp.  262,  270,  299,  313. 

2.  Suchier  und  Birch-Hirschfeld,   Geschichte  der  Franzos- 

ischen  Liiteratur,  Leipzig  und  Wien,  1900  ;  opp.  p.  261. 

3.  G.   Grober,    Grundriss  der  Romanischen  Philologie,  II. 

Band,   I.  Abteilung,   Strasburg,   1902;  pp.   984,   990, 
1012,  1015,  1020,  1023  f.,  1027,  1030. 

4.  Voretzsch,  Einfuhrung  in  das  Studium  der  Altfranzos- 

ischen  Litteratur,  Halle,  1905 ;  p.  498. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  give  any  account  of  de  Vignay's  life, 
we  have  to  look  to  his  own  works,  from  which  we  are  able  to 
gather  a  few  facts. 

A  few  additional  and  corroborative  statements  are  drawn  from 
B.  Haureau's  article  on  Jean  de  Vignai  'in  Vol.  xxx  of  the 
Histoire  Litteraire  de  la  France,1  and  from  S.  Berger's  La 
Bible  franqaise  au  Moyen  Age.2  His  father's  name  has  only 
recently  been  discovered  in  a  legal  account  of  a  most  important 
incident  in  Jehan  de  Vignay's  life  from  the  Archives  Ratio- 
nales in  Paris.3 

1  Cf.  B.  Haurgau,  loc.  clt. 

2S.  Berger,  La,  Bible  frangaise  au  Moyen  Age,  Paris,  1884;  p.  221. 
5me  partie:  Versions  du  XlVe  Siecle,  Jean  de  Vignay. 

3Cf.  Appendix  e,  where  the  legal  document  is  given  in  full.  Of  course 
there  is  a  possibility  that  this  refers  to  another  man  of  identical  name. 
But  the  evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  this  Latin  chart  concerns  our  au- 
thor; especially  as  it  is  dated  about  five  years  before  he  commenced  his 
great  literary  work. 


12  ^Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

Although,  as  early  as  1298,  we  find  our  author  to  be  a  "  vice- 
doctor  "  at  Dijon,1  we  must  conclude  from  the  following  state- 
ments of  himself  that  he  was  a  Norman  by  birth.  As  first 
evidence  we  may  cite  a  paragraph  inserted  in  his  translation  of 
Primat's  Chronique,  Chap.  XLVIII,  as  follows: 

"Les  miracles  que  frere  Jehan  de  Vignay  vit  avenir  en  Nor- 
mandie  de  monseigneur  saint  Louis.  La  vegille  de  la  feste  du 
benoit  saint  Loys,  je,  frere  Jehan  du  Vignay,  translateur  de  ce 
livre,  estoie  au  Molay  Bacon  demeurant  a  1'escole  avec  la  per- 
sonne  de  ladite  ville,  qui  estoit  mon  parrain  et  portoie  son  nom, 
si  avint  que  plusieux  autres  personnes  orent  volente  de  devotion 
de  venir  a  Baieux,  qui  est  a  II  lieues  du  Molay  Bacon  pour 
veillier  a  une  chapelle  de  Saint  Michel  de  Bayeux,  en  laquelle 
I  autel  du  benoit  saint  dessus  dit  estoit  f onde  de  nouvel ;  si  avint 
que  une  moye  cousine  et  sa  fille  estoient  aveuques  moy  au  partir 
de  la  ville  pour  venir  a  ladite  vegille,  si  que  elle  vouloit  amener 
I  sien  filz  clerc,  mon  cousin  et  compaignon  de  escole."  2 

This  would  show  that  Jehan  de  Vignay  was  born  in  Nor- 
mandy, or  at  least,  if  he  were  not,  he  had  relatives  living  there, 
and  spent  his  early  school  days  there,  that  is,  at  the  little  village, 
Molay  Bacon,  which  is  near  Bayeux. 

For  further  evidence  of  Jehan  de  Vignay's  Norman  origin 
we  may  also  cite  the  dedication  of  Le  Livre  des  JEschez  to  Jean 
de  France,  due  de  Normandie.  Here,  after  some  flattering 
remarks  to  the  oldest  son  of  the  first  Valois,  our  author  contin- 
ues: aje,  frere  Jehan  de  Vignay,  vostre  petit  religieux  entre 
les  autres  de  vostre  seignorie,  ay  mis  ung  petit  livret  de  latin  en 
francois."  3 

1  Haureau,  loc.  cit. 

2  P.  Meyer,  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France,  Tome  xxiii, 
Paris,  1876,  p.  72.     The  Chronique  de  Primat  is  a  continuation  of  Vincent's 
Speculum  Historiale  covering  the  life  of  St.  Louis,  cf.  infra,  pp.  20,  21.     In 
this  quotation  we  see  illustrations  of  the  instability  of  the  spelling  of  the 
time  ( cf .  supra,  p.  10 ).     We  notice  J.  du  Vignay  by  the  side  of  J.  de  Vig- 
nay, St.  Louis  and  St.  Loys  in  the  same  line,  also  Baieux  followed  by 
Bayeux. 

3Cf.  Notices  et  Extraits  des  Hss.,  Vol.  xxxin,  Part  2,  Manuscrits  fran- 
cais  de  Rome  par  E.  Lanerlois,  p.  194.  MS.  Reg.  1678 


UNI 
£*i 


Fables  in  Jehan.  de   Vignay.  13 

There  is  no  mention  anywhere  of  the  date  of  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay's  birth.1  But  we  may  infer  that  it  was  about  1275  A.  D. 
This  would  make  him  some  sixty-six  years  of  age  in  1341,  the 
date  of  his  latest  translations.2  It  is  between  1320  and  1340 
that  we  find  him  writing  his  stupendous  translations:  Legende 
Doree,  Mireoir  Historialj  etc.3  The  date  1275  may  not  be  too 
early  for  that  of  his  birth,  for  in  1298  we  find  him  a  professor 
at  Dijon.4  In  fact  he  was  a  "  vice-doctor  "  of  the  monastery 
there.  The  colophon  to  the  Lamballe  manuscript  5  of  his  Latin 
works  contains  the  following  statement :  6 

"  Explicit  Margarita  philosophiarum  completa  Divione  a 
magistro  Johanne  Vignaco,  vice-doctore  Divionis,  anno  Domini 
1298,  communicato  scholaribus  ab  eodem." 

Assuming  that  it  was  the  same  Jehan  de  Vignay  7  who  wrote 
this  Latin  treatise,  Margarita  Philosophiarum,  and  who,  later, 
made  many  French  translations  from  Latin  religious  works,  our 
supposition  that  he  was  born  about  1275  would  make  him  about 
twenty-three  years  old  when  he  composed  his  Latin  works  in 
129 8.8  Compatible  with  this  probable  date  of  his  birth  would 
be  a  statement  in  the  Chronique  de  Primat  concerning  his  fa- 
ther>  who  witnessed  an  accident  that  occurred  to  the  ship  of  St. 
Louis  on  the  latter's  return  from  his  crusade  to  Egypt.  This 
accident  was  related  to  Jehan  de  Vignay  by  his  father,  Gille  de 
Vignay:9 

1Oursel,  Nouvelle  Biographie  Normande,  Vol.  n,  Paris,  1886,  p.  567, 
mentions  "  Jean  de  Vignai "  as  a  "  moine  "  of  the  fourteenth  century,  born 
"environs  de  Bayeux  (Calvados)." 

2Cf.  infra,  p.  26.  4Haureau,  loc.  tit. 

3Cf.  infra,  pp.  16  sqq.  5  Lamballe,  Bibl.  Municipale. 

6Haur6au,  loc.  tit. 

7  It  is  not  likely  that  two  men  of  the  same  name  would  be  publishing, 
within  the  same  generation,  especially  men  of  religious  orders.     Moreover- 
the  general  style  for  the  Latin  and  French  is  the  same,  that  is,  rather  care- 
less.    Most  conclusive  is  the  fact  that  in  the  Margarita  is  an  anecdote 
concerning  Primat,  whose  Chronique  Jehan  de  Vignay  later  translated  into 
French. 

8  See  infra,  p.  17. 

9  The  authority  for  this  name  is  based  upon  a  document  found  in  the 
Archives  Nationales,   and  given  in  Appendix  e. 


14  2E 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

"  lequel  avoit  este  en  cell  passage  aveuques  son  oncle,  qui 
estoit  a  donques  clerc  du  roy  saint  Loys,  et  avoit  nom  Guillemes 
du  Pont."  1 

The  date  of  this  occurrence  must,  therefore,  have  been  1254, 
the  year  in  which  Louis  IX  returned  to  Paris  from  his  first 
crusade,  being  recalled  by  the  death  of  his  good  and  noble  moth- 
er, Blanche  of  Castile. 

After  these  early  school  days  in  Normandy,  we  next  find  our 
author  filling  a  professorship  in  the  monastery  at  Dijon.  This 
was  in  1298.  In  a  Latin  work,  Margarita  philosophiarum,  pub- 
lished by  him  at  that  time,  he  shows  himself  to  be  a  grammarian 
and  a  logician.  In  his  philosophical  discussions  2  he  held  to 
the  views  of  the  nominalists. 

The  next  important  incident  of  Jehan  de  Vignay's  career  of 
which  we  have  record  occurred  in  1318.  This  event  is  his  ac- 
quittal from  the  suspicion  of  having  murdered  a  certain  Colinet 
de  la  Ville  au  Bos.  At  that  time,  it  appears  from  the  court  re- 
cords, he  was  living  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  "  damoiselle 
de  Louvain  et  dame  de  Montcarnet."  Jehan  de  Vignay  had 
been  held  in  prison  for  some  time  on  a  charge  of  manslaughter. 
But  he  was  entirely  cleared  from  all  suspicion  of  the  crime  by 
the  local  court,  which  was  presided  over  by  a  certain  Geras  de 
Saint  Prueve.  His  complete  acquittal  was  greatly  influenced 
by  the  fact  that  he  had  as  bondsmen  eight  important  fiefmen 
of  the  above-mentioned  "  damoiselle."  The  "  confirmatio  ab- 
solutionis  "  is  declared  within  the  record  to  have  occurred  in 
1318,  "  le  dimenche  devant  la  feste  de  1' Ascension  notre  Seig- 
neur." On  the  other  hand,  the  date  of  its  being  recorded  at 
Paris  is  given  as  December,  1322.3 

The  next  recorded  appearance  of  our  author  was  in  Norman- 
dy, probably  holding  a  monastic  position  at  Rouen,  and  when 
Jeanne  of  Burgundy  4  wanted  a  prayer  book  in  French,  the 

JPaul  Meyer,  op.  cit.,  Chap.  XLIIH,  p.  225. 
2  Cf .  Haure*au,  loc.  cit.  »  Cf.  Appendix  e. 

'This  "Jeanne  de  Bourgogne  "  was  the  wife  of  Philip  VI   (1293-1350), 
although  the  consort  of  Philip  V  was  also  known  as  "  Jeanne  de  Bour- 


JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  15 

Pope  selected  Jehan  de  Vignay  to  make  for  her  a  translation 
of  the  Latin  Gospels.1  This  translation  is  entitled  Epistres 
et  Evangiles  de  tout  Van.  As  is  to  be  seen  in  its  introduction, 
the  date  of  the  completion  of  this  work  was  1326. 

Apparently  from  this  time  on  Jehan  was  taken  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Valois  family,  and  especially  of  the  queen; 
Jeanne  de  Bourgogne,  for  it  was  at  her  request  that  he  did  most 
of  his  translating.  Besides,  he  dedicated  several  of  these  trans- 
lations to  her,  as  is.  to  be  noted  in  the  introduction  to  the  respec- 
tive works. 

It  is  evident,  also,  that  he  worked  under  the  orders  of  her 
husband,  King  Philip  VI  (1328-1350).2  We  know,  moreover, 
from  the  dedication  in  his  Le  Livre  des  Eschez  3  that  he  made 
at  least  one  translation  for  Queen  Jeanne's  son,  John,  Duke  of 
ISTormandy,  who  afterward  became  King  John  the  Good  (1350- 
1364). 

In  the  introduction  to  most  of  his  works,  we  find  the  last- 
fact  concerning  our  author;  namely,  that  he  was  a  priest,  a 
"  hospitalier  "  of  the  order  of  "  Saint  Jacques  du  Hault  Pas  " 
in  Paris. 

According  to  Dr.  O.  Jordan's  recently  published  dissertation 
(1905)  in  which  Jehan  de  Vignay's  Mirouer  de  I'Eglise  is 
edited,  we  find  that  1348  is  the  probable  date  of  our  author's 
death.4 


gogne."  The  latter  died  in  1330.  Jehan  de  Vignay's  patroness,  however, 
lived  until  1348,  when  she  died  at  Clermont-en-Beauvaisis.  She  was  the 
third  daughter  of  Robert  II,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and,  through  her  mother 
Agnes,  was  the  grand-daughter  of  Saint  Louis.  It  was  in  the  latter's 
honor  that  she  commanded  Jehan  de  Vignay  to  make  some  of  his  transla- 
tions. She  married  Philip  of  Valois  in  1313,  who  became  Philip  VI  in 
1328. 

1  S.  Berger,  loc.  cit. 

2  Cf.  his  translation  of  Brocarde,  Directoire  a  faire  le  Passage  de  la  Terre 
Sainte.     See  infra,  pp.  21,  22. 

8  See  infra,  pp.  23,  24. 

*  This  appeared. after  most  of  the  work  of  my  dissertation  had  been  com- 
pleted. In  it  we  find  a  brief  account  of  the  Church  of  St.  James  "  du 
Haut  Pas,"  p.  7. 


16  &  so  pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 


B.     LITERARY  WORK. 

Jehan  de  Vignay  translated  at  least  twelve  Latin  works  into 
French  prose,  and  he  is,  besides,  the  author  of  one,  or  possibly 
two,  Latin  treatises.  Below  follows  a  list  of  his  works  given 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  a  chronological  order.  The  figure 
after  each  work  represents  the  year  of  its  appearance.  When 
the  exact  date  is  not  given  in  the  manuscript  or  old  library  cata- 
logs an  approximate  one  is  given,  which  is  based  on  the  in- 
ternal evidence  afforded  by  the  works  themselves. 

A.  Latin  Treatises: 

1.  Margarita  PhilosopJiiarum .  ...  1293 

2.  Glossa  in  Doctrinale  Alexandri 

de  Villedieu 1298 

B.  French  Translations: 

1.  Les  Epistres  et  les  Evangiles.  .  1326 

2.  Vincent    de    Beauvais,  Mireoir 

Historial 1332-1333 

3.  Eobert  Primat,  Chronique 1333 

4.  Brocarde,  Directoire 1333 

5.  Jacques    de    Varazze,    Legende 

Doree ab.  1334 

6.  Jacques  de  Cessoles,  Le    Livre 

des   Eschez ab.  1335 

7.  Hugo,  Mirouer  de  I'Eglise 1335-1340 

8.  Theodore  Paleologue,  Enseigne- 

ments 1335-1340 

9.  Odorique  de  Frioul,  Merveilles 

de  la  Terre  d'Outremer 1335-1340 

10.  Gervais    de    Tilbury,    Oisivetez 

des  Emperieres 1335-1340 

11.  Livre  Royale 1335-1340 

12.  Roman  d'Alixandre 1341 


^Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  17 

A.     LATIN  TREATISES. 

1.     Margarita  Philosophiarum. 
2.     Glossa  in  Doctrinale  Alexandri  de  Villedieu. 

The  Latin  works  of  our  author  include  a  lengthy  disserta- 
tion on  the  arts  and  sciences  entitled  Margarita  philosophiarum, 
and  another  small  work  contained  in  the  same  manuscripts  * 
as  the  Margarita.  The  authorship  of  the  latter  may  doubtless 
be  attributed  on  general  internal  evidence  to  Jehan  de  Vignay. 
The  title  of  this  second  work  is  Glossa  in  Doctrinale  Alexandri 
de  Villedieu.2  The  original  Doctrinale  itself  is  a  treatise  on 
grammar  written  in  Latin  verse  by  Alexandre  de  Villedieu.3 

B.     FRENCH  TRANSLATIONS. 

Jehan  de  Vignay's  French  works  will  now  be  taken  up  ona 
by  one  in  the  order  given  in  the  preceding  list.  As  the  present 
dissertation  is  chiefly  concerned  with  the  ^sopic  fables  found 
in  the  Mireoir  Historial,  his  greatest  work,  but  few  details  will 
be  given  in  mentioning  his  other  translations. 

1.     Les  Epistres  et  les  Evangiles. 

Our  author's  first  translation,  then,  is  entitled  Les  Epistres 
et  les  Evangiles.  We  find  in  the  final  chapter  of  the  work, 
that  it  was  finished  May  13,  1326,  at  the  order  of  Jeanne  de 
Bourgogne,  wife  of  Philippe  de  Valois  (1328-1350).  This 
translation  was  used  in  the  Church  services  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  as  was  also  the  Evangiles  de  Cambrai,  an  earlier  work 
whose  authorship  is  unknown.  M.  Berger  compares  and  con- 
trasts the  two  works  just  mentioned,  concluding  that  as  they 

1  Cf .  Appendix  5. 

2  Villedieu   is   a    town    in   Normandy    (Manche).     This    Alexandre    was 
a  well-known  scholar  of  the  13th  century.     Cf.  Sandys'  History  of  Classical 
Scholarship,  2nd.  ed.,  Cambridge,  1906,  pp.  554  sqq. 

'See  Haure"au,  loc.  cit. 


18  ^Jsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

are  similar  at  times  Jehan  de  Vignay  drew  occasionally  from 
the  Cambrai  translation,  or,  else,  that  they  both  went  back  to 
a  previous  French  version  of  the  Gospels.1  There  are  four 
manuscripts  which  contain  Les  Epistres  et  les  Evangiles.  A 
list  of  them  is  given  in  the  Appendix.2 

2.     Vincent  de  Beauvais,  Mireoir  Historial. 

The  Mireoir  Historial  is  probably  Jehan  de  Vignay's  second 
translation.  This  work  was  completed  in  1333.3  It  is  a  trans- 
lation of  Vincentius  Bellovacensis,  Speculum  Historiale,4  which 
was  compiled  by  the  order  of  St.  Louis  about  1240.  As  its 
title  indicates,  the  Mireoir  Historial  is  an  encyclopedia  of  the 
history  of  the  world,  from  the  creation,  until  the  reign  of  St. 
Louis  (1226-1270).  Although  this  was  one  of  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay's earlier  translations,  it  was  so  popular  at  the  time  that 
several  members  of  the  royal  family  ordered  copies  of  it  to  be 
made  for  their  own  libraries.  The  latter  no  doubt  understood 
most  of  the  story  from  the  numerous  fine  illustrations  contained 
in  the  work. 

•  Thus,  it  is  very  evident,  that  the  Mireoir  Historial  is  Jehan 
de  Vignay's  most  important  work.  He  made  the  translation 
at  the  command  of  Jeanne  de  Bourgogne,  by  whose  orders  he 
also  executed  his  first  translation  previously  described.  The 
entire  Mireoir  Historial  is  a  massive  production  consisting  in 
its  manuscript  form  usually  of  four  folio  volumes,  of  about 
four  hundred  leaves  each.  I  have  found  mention  of  forty-one 
extant  manuscripts  of  this  work;  5  one  of  which  (a  fragment 
containing  the  fables  only)  I  have  in  a  photographic  copy,6  and 


1  See  Berger,  loc.  tit.  2  See  Appendix  6. 

3Cf.  Delisle  in  Gazette  Archeologique,  Vol.  XI   (1886),  pp.  87-101. 
4 This  is  a  part  of  Vincent's  Speculum  Quadruples:  Naturale,  Doctrinale, 
Historiale,  Morale.     The  Morale  was  really  of  other  authorship. 
5  See  Appendix  6. 
fl  Besansonv,  Bibl,  Municjpale,  434. 


Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  19 

six  others  I  myself  have  examined.1  B.  1ST.  f.  316  no  doubt 
affords  the  best  text  of  the  various  manuscripts  containing  the 
fables  because  of  its  nearness  to  the  original  in  point  of  time. 
As  it  is  dated  1333,  it  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  copies  made  for 
the  queen  Jeanne,2  or  for  a  member  of  her  family,  and  hence 
is  very  close  to  the  original  made  by  the  author  himself.  Its 
old  numbering  and  general  appearance  show  it  to  have  been 
made  expressly  for  one  of  the  royal  family.  The  first  minia- 
ture in  this  manuscript,  made  in  brilliant  colors  and  remark- 
ably well  done  for  that  period,  shows  on  one  side  Saint  Louis 
ordering  Vincent  de  Beauvais  to  compose  the  work,  and  on  the 
other  side  portrays  Jeanne  de  Bourgogne  commanding  Jehan 
de  Vignay  to  make  the  translation.  There  are  some  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miniatures  in  this  royal  manuscript.  Another 
manuscript  of  the  Mireoir  Historial  especially  well  illustrated, 
and  also  for  a  long  time  retained  in  the  royal  libraries,  is  MS. 
Codex  Vossianus  gallicus,  no.  3  A,  Universiteits  Bibliotheek, 
Leiden.  In  fact  this  manuscript  bears  the  signature  of  "  Jehan, 
Due  de  Normandie  et  de  Guienne."  Hence  it  also  must  have 
been  copied  before  1350,  in  which  year  Jean  II.  (le  Bon)  be- 
came king.  It  contains  some  two  hundred  and  eighty  minia- 
tures, the  first  one  being  identical  with  the  first  miniature  in 
MS.  fr.  316  of  the  Bibliotheque  Rationale.3 

As  the  initial  rubric  of  the  Leiden  manuscript  contains  some 
valuable  information  it  may  be  well  to  quote  it  here  in  full.  It 
reads  as  follows :  "  Ci  commence  le  premier  Volume  du  Mire- 
oir hystorial  translate  (de  latin)  en  frangoiz  par  la  main  Jehan 
de  Vignay,  a  la  requeste  de  tres  haute  et  tres  excellente  dame 
Jehanne  de  Bourgogne,  roynne  de  France.  Et  fu  commencie 
ou  quint  an  de  son  regne,  1'  an  de  grace  mil  CCC  et  XXXII, 
selonc  Topinion  de  frere  Vincent,  qui  en  latin  le  compila  a  la 
requeste  de  Monseigneur  saint  Loys,  jadis  roy  de  France.'7 

1  London,  British  Museum,  Royal  14.  E.  i;  Paris,  Bibl.  Nationale,  fr. 
50,  308,  312,  316,  6354. 

2Cf.  Delisle,  Cab.  des  Mss.,  Vol.  in,  p.  324,  where  he  considers  this 
manuscript  the  one  presented  to  the  queen  by  Jehan  de  Vignay  himself. 

3  See  Delisle's  article  in  Gazette  Archeologiyve,  loc.  cit. 


20  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

More  stress  is  here  laid  on  the  Mireoir  Historial  because  it 
contains  the  text  of  the  ^Esopic  fables  which  is  edited  in  the 
present  dissertation.  These  fables  appear  in  the  fourth  book 
of  the  first  volume.  They  are  inserted  in  the  history  of  Persia 
after  a  short  account  of  the  life  of  their  author,  ^Esop,  who 
was  "  slain  by  the  Delphians,  during  the  first  year  of  the  reign 
of  Cyrus  the  Great."  x 

As  the  Mireoir  Historial  was  almost  the  earliest  translation 
of  Jehan  de  Vignay,  he  had  not  yet  developed  his  best  form. 
Hence,  as  is  shown  later,2  the  fables,  which  occur  in  the  early 
part  of  the  Mireoir  Historial,  are  close  to  the  Latin  in  their 
constructions  and  are  not  put  into  the  best  French.  In  fact 
our  author  continues  throughout  his  career  to  be  a  very  literal 
translator,  and  even  often  writes  ungrammatical  sentences,  in 
order  probably  to  follow  more  closely  his  Latin  model.  How- 
ever, later  on,  he  takes  the  liberty  to  add  a  few  of  his  own  ideas 
and  to  interpolate,  occasionally,  an  important  historical  incident 
which  otherwise  would  be  lost.3 

3.     Robert  Primat,  Chronique. 

Jehan  de  Vignay's  third  translation  is  entitled  Chronique  de 
Primat.  It  is  found  in  only  one  manuscript,  which  I  have  ex- 
amined.4 This  chronicle  is  a  continuation  of  Vincentius  Bel- 
lovacensis,  Speculum  Historiale.  It  takes  up  French  history 
where  he  left  off  in  1250  A.  D.  and  brings  the  narrative  down 
almost  to  1285  A.  D.,  thus  covering  parts  of  the  reigns  of 
Louis  IX  (1226-1270)  and  Philip  the  Bold  (1270-1285). 
Therefore  it  is  really  an  additional  chapter  of  the  Mireoir  His- 
torial made  to  bring  the  latter  up  to  date.  The  Chronique  de 
Primat  also,  according  to  the  translator,  was  made  "  a  la  re- 

1  Cf .  Part  II.     The  text  reads  "  En  1'an  du  regne  Gyre  premier  Esope  eat 
occis  de  Delphins." 

2  See  infra,  pp.  32  sqq. 

3  For   instance,   note   the   above-mentioned  miracles   connected  with   St. 
Louis,  p.  12. 

*  London,  British  Museum.,  Royal  19.  D.  i.  (no.  VI). 


Fables  in  JeJian  de   Vignay.  21 

queste  "  of  Queen  Jeanne.  Since  the  Queen  desired  his  uni- 
versal history  to  contain  an  account  of  St.  Louis,  her  maternal 
grandfather,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  our  translator  took 
up  the  Chronique  as  soon  as  he  had  completed  the  Mireoir  His- 
torial.  Thus,  then,  it  would  be  dated  about  1333.  Moreover, 
we  have  his  own  word  that  he  completed  his  next  work,  the  Di- 
rectoire, in  1333,  which  he  probably  did  not  begin  until  he  had 
finished  the  Chronique  and  the  Mireoir  Historial.  The  Chroni- 
que de  Primat  was  first  composed  in  Latin  by  a  monk  of  St. 
Denis  whose  name  was  Robert  Primat.1  The  French  version 
has  been  published  in  its  entirety  by  M.  Paul  Meyer  in  Vol. 
xxin  of  the  Recueil  des  Historiens  de  la  France.2  According 
to  M.  Meyer,  this  translation,  like  the  others  made  by  our  au- 
thor, "  est  lourd  mais  exact." 

4.     Brocarde,  Directoire  a  Faire  le  Passage  de  Terre  Sainte. 

The  fourth  translation  made  by  Jehan  de  Vignay  is  entitled 
Directoire  a  faire  le  Passage  de  Terre  Sainte.  The  Latin  orig- 
inal was  written  in  1332  by  Brocardus,  a  traveling  "  frere  de 
1'ordre  des  prescheurs,"  who  witnessed  the  things  recorded.3 
This  Directoire  was  also  translated  in  1333,  as  is  evident  from 
the  introduction  which  contains  the  following:  "  et  fu 
translate  en  frangois  par  Jehan  de  Vignay  Tan  mil  cccxxxm/' 
From  the  introduction  we  find,  in  addition,  that  this  work  was 
dedicated  to  Philip  VI  (1328-1350),  the  husband  of  Jehan  de 
Vignay ?s  former  patron,  Jeanne  of  Burgundy.  It  contains 


1  For  a  discussion  of  Primat  and  other  particulars,  cf.  P.  Meyer,  Docu- 
ments Manuscrits  de  I'  Ancienne  Literature  de  la  France,  Paris,  1871,  pp. 
16  sqq.;  N.  de  Wailly,  Bibl.  de  I'ticole  des  Chartes,  xxxin,  pp.  39-40; 

2  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France,  Vol.  xxin,  Paris, 
1876,  pp.  1-105:   "Chronique  de  Primat  traduite  par  Jean  du  Vignay." 

3  P.    Meyer,    Archives    des    Missions   Scientifiques    et   Litteraires,    Deux. 
Se"rie,  Tome  III,  pp.  319-326. 

4  Cf.  British  Museum,  MS.  Royal  19.  D.  I.     Cf.  also  Le  Roulx,  La  France 
en  Orient  au  XIV e  Siecle,  Paris,  1886,  p.  89,  note. 


22  JEsopic  Fables  in  JeJian  de  Vignay. 

also  a  miniature  showing  the  "f  rere  mineur  "  presenting  his 
book  to  the  king.     The  Directoire  is  found  in  two  manuscripts.1 

5.     Jacques  de  Varazze,  Legende  Doree. 

The  next  work  that  de  Vignay  completed,  and  probably  in 
the  following  year,  1334,  is  the  Legende  doree.  This  is  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Legenda  Aurea  of  Jacobus  de  Voragine.2  This 
work  contains  the  lives  and  miracles  of  the  saints.  There  was 
also  another  French  translation  of  this  same  work  made  by 
Jehan  Belet  (flourished  ab.  1300),  which  has  been  preserved  in 
a  number  of  manuscripts.  Jehan  de  Vignay,  however,  in  his 
translation  adds  forty-nine  additional  legends.3  Nevertheless 
Belet's  translation  is  freer  and  not  so  literal  as  that  of  our 
author,  who,  as  usual,  follows  his  original  too  closely,  and  thus 
makes  the  sense  to  be  at  times  obscure.4  Manuscript  fr.  241 
of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  which  bears  the  date  of  1348, 
shows  exactly  the  same  order  and  contents  as  the  Latin  text, 
with  one  or  two  omissions  and  no  additions  or  amplifications.5 

This  translation  also  was  made  "  a  1'  instance  et  requeste  de 
tres  haulte  et  noble  et  puissante  dame  ma  dame  de  Bourgoigne, 
par  le  grace  de  Dieu,  royne  de  France."  6  There  are  twenty- 
eight  manuscripts  containing  the  Legende  doree,7  two  of  the 
oldest  of  which  I  have  examined.8  There  are  at  least  eighteen 

1  Cf.  Appendix  6. 

2  Jacobus  de  Voragine    (Varazze)    (1230?-1298)    was  a  Dominican  monk 
as  well  as  a  zealous  student  and  theologian.     He  became   archbishop   of 
Genoa  in  1293,  and  was  instrumental  in  keeping  peace  between  the  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines. 

3Cf.  Blades,  Life  and  Typography  of  W.  Caxton,  London,  1861-1863, 
Vol.  n,  p.  155. 

4  Cf.  Romania,  Vol.  xxxm  (1904),  pp.  5,  6.  P.  Meyer  here  says  of  the 
different  translations  of  the  Legenda  Aurea :  "  celle  de  Jean  de  Vignay  qui 
a  obtenu  le  plus  de  succes,  est  peut-e"tre  la  plus  mauvaise;  c'est  un  mot 
&  mot,  in  intelligent  et  depourvu  de  style." 

"  Cf.  P.  Butler,  Legenda  Aurea — Legende  doree — Golden  Legend,  Balti- 
more, 1899  (Johns  Hopkins  diss.),  pp.  35  sqq. 

•  Cf.  Bibl.  Nat.  fr.  17232.  T  Cf.  Appendix  6. 

8  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.  fr.  241,  242;  the  former  is  dated  1348. 


2Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  23 

incunabulum  editions  of  this  work;  *  and  in  the  case  of  six 
others  I  am  not  certain  whether  they  contain  our  author's  trans- 
lation, or  that  of  Jehan  Belet.2 

As  the  following  seven  translations  of  Jehan  de  Vignay  have 
no  date,  and  leave  no  special  indications  to  aid  us  in  attempting 
to  date  them,  we  may  surmise  that  they  most  likely  appeared 
between  1334  and  1341,  the  year  of  his  last  dated  work,  and 
I  shall  therefore  consider  them  without  reference  to  possible 
dates  for  their  production. 

6.     Jacques  de  Cessoles,  Le  Lime  des  Eschez. 

We  may  next  consider  the  Le  Livre  des  Eschez  inasmuch  as 
this  work  seems  to  have  been  very  important  in  its  day.  This 
last  fact  is  evidenced  by  the  great  number  of  extant  manuscripts,, 
there  being  in  all  forty-six  manuscripts  of  the  French  trans- 
lation.3 I  have  examined  the  two  oldest  of  these,  namely,  Brit- 
ish Museum,  Harley  5440,  and  Bibliotheque  Rationale,  fr. 
1169,  which  bear  the  dates  1360  and  1367  respectively.  There 
exist,  also,  some  five  copies  of  the  two  incunabulum  editions 
of  the  Livre  des  Eschez.4  The  translation  itself  is  made  from 
the  original  Latin  of  Jacobus  de  Cessolis.  It  is  primarily  a 
treatise  on  the  game  of  chess,  and  includes  the  sayings  of  doc- 
tors, poets,  philosophers,  and  ancient  sages  made  for  the  moral 
instruction  "  des  hommes  et  gens.'7  In  this  work  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay does  not  follow  so  closely  his  Latin  original,  at  least  in  the 
first  part ;  he  is  rather  prolix  in  paraphrasing,  and  puts  the  titles 
of  the  chapters  at  the  beginning,  not  at  the  head  of  each  section 

1  Cf.  Appendix  c. 

8  We  have  a  most  recent  reprint  from  this  work  in  the  following :  "  Ex- 
position de  la  messe  from  la  legende  doree  of  Jean  de  Vignay.  With  il- 
luminations reproduced  from  Fitzwilliam  Museum  MS.  22.  Edited  by 
Walter  Frere,  Priest  of  the  community  of  the  Resurrection.  Alcuin  Club 
Collections.  Vol.  II,  1898-1899.  London:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.  Fol." 
O.  Jordan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  14-15,  says  that  this  does  not  have  the  same  text 
as  Jehan  de  Vignay's  Legende  doree,  and  hence  he  considers  it  to  be  an  ad- 
ditional translation. 

8  See  Appendix  6.  *  See  Appendix  c. 


24  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

as  did  Jacobus  de  Cessolis,  and  as  did  also  Jean  Ferron  in  his 
translation.1  The  latter  bears  the  date  May  4,  1347,  and  is 
extant  in  numerous  manuscripts.  It  is  also  evident  that  in  the 
Livre  des  Eschez  Jehan  de  Vignay  took  the  liberty  of  adding 
stories  and  fables  not  in  his  original.2  The  dedication  of  the 
work  was  addressed  to  Jean  le  Bon  (1350-1364),  who  was  then 
"  due  de  Normandie,"  as  I  have  noticed  in  my  discussion  on 
the  author's  life.3 

7.     Hugo,  Mirouer  de  I'Eglise. 

As  Jehan  de  Vignay  ?s  seventh  work  we  may  take  up  the 
Mirouer  de  I'Eglise.  This  work,  of  a  religious  character,  like 
the  majority  of  our  author's  translations,  is  taken  from  a  work 
written  "  per  fratrem  Hugonem  Cardinalem  ordinis  predicato- 
rum."  4  We  have  no  indications  of  the  date  of  the  translation, 
nor  do  we  know  to  whom  it  was  dedicated,  although  on  the  last 
page  of  the  Paris  manuscript  containing  this  work  we  find  the 
words :  "  treshault  et  trespuissant  seigneur  et  roy  souverain." 
It  is  extant  in  two  manuscripts,5  of  which  I  have  examined  B. 
!N".  f.  19810.  The  latter  is  a  fourteenth-century  manuscript 
and  it  contains  for  the  first  sixty-one  leaves  the  "  Art  de  Cheva- 
lerie,"  which  is  written  in  a  different  hand  from  that  in  which 
the  remaining  forty-four  were  copied.  The  latter  contain  Je- 
han de  Vignay's  Mirouer  de  I'Eglise.  As  usual  the  translator 
follows  his  original  very  closely  even  so  far  as  to  make  serious 

*Cf.  Lajard,  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  Tome  xxv,  pp.  29  sqq. 
The  author  here  adds  that  the  reason  for  the  latter  part  of  the  translation 
being  close  to  the  original  is  because  Jehan  de  Vignay  was,  no  doubt, 
pushed  for  time. 

2  Cf.  Blades,  loc.  cit.  8  See  supra,  p.  12. 

4Cf.  O.  Jordan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  15  sqq.  Here  is  given  a  short  account  of 
the  Latin  author.  We  also  note  that  there  was  an  Italian  translation 
of  the  Mirouer  de  I'Eglise,  but  on  comparison  it  is  clear  that  neither  Jehan 
de  Vignay  nor  the  Italian  author  drew  on  each  other,  but  that  both  used 
their  Latin  original  directly. 

5  See  Appendix  I.  The  text  from  the  Paris  manuscript  has  just  been 
published  in  the  afore-mentioned  dissertation  by  Jordan,  pp.  25  sqq. 


JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de  Vignay.  25 

mistakes  in  his  French  idiom.  Moreover,  he  does  not  translate 
all  of  the  Latin  text,  although  he  has  inserted  matter  from  other 
sources  also.  These  insertions  and  omissions,  as  the  transla- 
tor says,  are  to  make  this  treatise  on  church  functions  entirely 
compatible  with  his  personal  ideas.1 

8.     Theodore  Paleologue,  Enseignements. 

The  next  one  of  Jehan  de  Vignay7  s  works,  which  is  without 
date,  though  probably  between  1335  and  1340,  is  entitled  En- 
seignements. As  its  title  indicates,  this  work  contains  instruc- 
tions for  those  who  have  "  guerres  et  grans  gouvernemens  a 
f aire,"  and  was  "  fait  en  latin  par  Theodore  Paliologue,  mar- 
quis de  Montferrat  et  filz  de  I'empereur  des  Griez;  et  le  mist 
de  latin  en  francois  frere  Jehan  de  Vignay."  There  are  two 
manuscripts  which  contain  this  translation  2  which  seems  to  be 
the  only  one  known.3  It  was  probably  dedicated  to  Philippe 
VI,  or  to  his  son  Jean. 

9.     Odorique  de  Frioul,  Merveilles  de  la  Terre  d'Outremer* 

The  ninth  translation  made  by  Jehan  de  Vignay  is  known  as 
Les  Merveilles  de  la  Terre  d'Outremer.  This  also  is  not  dated, 
but  probably  falls  between  the  years  1335  and  1340.  The 
events  recorded  in  this  work  were  witnessed  by  the  original  au- 
thor, Odoricus  de  Foro  Julii,  ade  Tordre  des  freres  meneurs." 
The  latter  wrote  the  work  in  1330  and  died  in  1332.4  The 
French  translation  is  preserved  to  us  in  two  manuscripts.5 

10.     Gervais  de  Tilbury,  Oisivetez  des  Emperieres. 

The  next  translation  that  was  probably  made  by  Jehan  de 
Vignay  is  entitled  Oisivetez  des  Emperieres.  This  was  the  Otia 

1  Cf.  Jordan,  op.  tit.,  pp.  23-24.  2  See  Appendix  6. 

•  Cf .  Romania,  Vol.  xxv   (1896),  p.  409. 

*Cf.  P.  Meyer,  Arch,  des  Missions,  II  S6rie,  Vol.  m,  p.  317  sqq. 

5  See  Appendix  6. 


26  ^Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

Imperialia  of  Gervasius  de  Tilbury  and  was  "  translate  de 
latin  en  frangois  par  Jehan  du  Vignay,  frefe  de  Haut  pas." 
Although  it  bears  no  date  we  are  reasonably  safe  in  consider- 
ing that  it  was  written  between  1335  and  1341.  This  work 
is  to  be  found  in*  only  one  manuscript.1 

11.     Livre  Royale. 

This  work  is  not  extant  in  manuscript  form,  although  S. 
Berger,  in  his  work  on  the  Bible  of  the  Middle  Ages,2  men- 
tions it  as  one  of  the  works  of  Jehan  de  Vignay  dedicated  to 
Jeanne  de  Bourgogne. 

12.     Roman  d'Alixandre. 

The  twelfth  and  last  translation  made  by  Jehan  de  Vignay 
is  the  Roman  d'Alixandre.  This  is  in  prose  and  is  dated  1341.3 
As  we  have  no  works  of  our  author  dated  later  than  this,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  year  1341  marks  the  close  of  his  literary 
activities,  and  our  author  being  by  this  time  a  very  old  man  it 
is  also  very  likely  that  he  died  soon  after  this  date.4  There  is 
no  extant  manuscript  containing  the  Roman  d'Alixandre,  al- 
though there  is  one  mentioned  in  the  old  catalogs  of  the  Louvre.5 

Now  that  I  have  given  a  short  account  of  each  of  Jehan  ds 
Vignay's  works,  it  may  be  pertinent  to  sum  up  very  briefly 

1  See  Appendix  6.  2Cf.  S.  Berger,  loc.  cit. 

3Cf.  L.  Delisle,  Cab.  des  Mss.,  Vol.  in,  p.  163  (Librairie  du  Louvre, 
1373-1424),  where  we,  have  the  following  description  of  a  lost  manuscript. 
"  1070.  Alixandre  en  prose,  translate"  1'an  1341  par  frere  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay. A  365,  B  386,  D  250,  E  291,  F  271.  Sa  langue  ou  palays. — 16s.'' 
From  this  we  learn  that  the  manuscript  in  question  was  in  the  Louvre  as 
early  as  1380,  or  possibly  even  as  early  as  1373;  that  it  was  still  there  in 
1411,  in  1413  and  in  1424.  See  Delisle,  op.  cit.,  p.  114. 

4  Jordan,  op.  cit.,  p.  6,  gives  1348  as  the  date  of  de  Vignay's  death. 

5  Cf.  L.  Delisle,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  in,  p.   163.     A  thirteenth  translation  by 
Jehan  de  Vignay,  la  Chose  de  Chevalerie,  is  mentioned  by  Jordan,  op.  cit., 
pp.  13-14;   but  M.  Paul  Meyer  has  written  me  that  in  his  opinion  this 
is  from  another  pen  than  that  of  Jehan  de  Vignay. 


2Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay,  27 

his  style  and  general  literary  characteristics.  And  this  is  nec- 
essary especially  for  the  purpose  of  noticing  at  what  stage  of 
his  literary  development  are  to  be  found  the  fables,  with  which 
we  are  particularly  concerned.  Throughout  his  whole  career 
as  a  translator  Jehan  de  Vignay  closely  followed  his  Latin  ori- 
ginals and  made  his  translations  very  literal,  at  times  absurdly 
so.  Indeed  he  has  occasionally  followed  the  Latin  so  closely 
as  to  make  his  translation  unintelligible.  These  generalities 
on  our  author's  style  are  based  mostly  on  the  statements  already 
variously  recorded  *  of  the  distinguished  savant,  M.  Paul  Mey- 
er, the  great  authority  on  Old-French  manuscripts.  Moreover, 
my  own  humble  comparisons  for  the  fables,  as  shown  in  a  later 
chapter,2  lead  to  the  same  conclusion;  namely  that  our  author 
constantly  sacrificed  clearness  of  expression  for  the  sake  of  fol- 
lowing his  original  the  more  closely. 

Although  the  Mireoir  Historial,  in  which  the  fables  herewith 
edited  occur,  was  among  the  very  first  of  our  author's  produc- 
tions, he  seems  at  no  later  time  to  have  made  any  noticeable  im- 
provement in  his  style.  Nevertheless  a  slight  exception  may 
here  be  noted  in  that  he  shows  a  certain  freedom  in  making  a 
few  additions  of  a  personal  character  in  some  of  his  later  works. 
The  first  instances  of  this  kind  are  the  afore-mentioned  refer- 
ences to  Saint  Louis  in  the  Chronique  de  Primat :  3  he  also,  as 
I  have  said,  makes  interpolations  in  the  Livre  des  Eschez,4  and, 
in  fact,  we  have  seen  that  he  translated  only  selected  passages 
in  his  Mireour  de  I'Eglise,  making  arbitrary  additions  from 
various  sources.5  Hence  it  is  evident  that  he  developed  a  lit- 
tle more  freedom,  and  logically  reached  the  "  high- water  mark  " 
of  his  translation  toward  the  close  of  his  career. 

Thus,  we  finally  conclude  that  Jehan  de  Vignay  was  a  trans- 
lator of  prodigious  activity,  and  also  added  a  little  original  mat- 
ter to  our  historical  knowledge  in  his  interpolations  which 
give  us  bits  of  information  not  recorded  elsewhere.  The  last 

xCf.  supra,  pp.  21,  22.  2  Of .  infra,  pp.  33  sqq. 

3Cf.  supra,  pp.   12,   13,   14,  21.  *  Cf .  supra,  p.   24. 

°Cf.  supra,  pp.  24-25. 


2& 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

point,  as  M.  Paul  Meyer  suggests,  causes  us  to  overlook  his 
shortcomings  as  a  translator.  The  fact  that  Jehan  de  Vignay 
was  working  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life  at  the  command  of 
various  members  belonging  to  the  family  of  the  first  Valois 
king,  and  that  his  works  were  copied  especially  for  the  libraries 
of  the  succeeding  monarchs,  shows  that  he  was  of  considerable 
importance  in  his  time.  His  popularity  is  attested  both  by  the 
large  number  of  manuscripts  that  contain  his  works  and  by  the 
great  care  with  which  many  of  them  have  been  copied  and  il- 
luminated. These  are  considerably  over  a  hundred  in  number.1 
The  number  of  early  editions  of  certain  of  his  works  is  also 
quite  considerable,  attesting  to  their  long-continued  vogue,  even 
down  into  the  sixteenth  century. 

C.  INFLUENCE  ON  ENGLISH  LITERATURE.2 

The  influence  of  Jehan  de  Vignay's  works  on  English  litera- 
ture in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  was  of  some  impor- 
tance, as  is  evidenced  by  numerous  English  editions.3  It  is  of 
especial  interest  to  note  that  it  was  William  Caxton  who  trans- 
lated and  printed  two  of  the  most  important  of  Jehan  de  Yig- 
nay's  works:  the  Livre  des  Eschez  4  and  the  Legende  Doree.5 

In  a  section  of  the  Appendix  6  are  listed  the  editions  in  Eng- 
lish of  which  mention  has  been  found.  They  number  ten  in  all, 
and  most  of  them  are  black  letter  editions  dating  from  the  latter 
part  of  the  fifteenth,  and  the  earlier  portion  of  the  sixteenth 


1  Cf .  Appendix  6. 

2 1  have  not  discovered  that  Jehan  de  Vignay  has  had  any  influence  on 
any  other  literature,  although  there  is  a  Spanish  version  of  the  Legende 
Doree,  and  a  Dutch  one  of  the  Mireoir  Historial.  But  both  of  these  seem 
to  be  from  the  Latin  original,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  description  of  copies 
of  each,  which  are  contained  in  the  British  Museum.  See  British  Museum, 
Cat.  of  Printed  Books,  s.  v.  There  is  also  an  Italian  version  of  the  Mirouer 
de  I'Eglise,  which  likewise  has  no  relation  to  Jehan  de  Vignay's  work.  Cf. 
Jordan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  17-18. 

3  Cf .  Appendix  d. 

4  See  supra,  pp.  23-24.  5  See  supra,  pp.  22-23. 
8  See  Appendix  d. 


M 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  29 

century.  Half  of  these  editions  were  printed  by  William  Cax- 
ton.  When  we  consider  the  condition  of  printing  at  the  time 
and  the  rarity  of  books,  it  seems  very  evident  that  the  works  of 
Jehan  de  Vignay  were  highly  esteemed  by  the  English-reading 
public.  Caxton  himself  tells  us  that  he  followed  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay's  translations  in  preference  to  the  Latin  originals,  or  other 
Trench  translations,  notably  Jehan  Belet's  translation  of  the 
Legenda  Aurea.1 

The  importance  of  Jehan  de  Vignay  to  English  literature 
is  still  more  apparent  when  we  consider  the  fact  that  two  of  his 
works  were  among  the  first  selected  for  translation  by  the  first 
English  printer.  It  might  be  added  that  Caxton' s  earliest  dated 
publication,  and  probably  the  first  book  printed  in  England,  was 
The  Game  and  Playe  of  Chesse.1  The  source  of  this  work  may 
be  seen,  from  the  Introduction  to  its  first  edition,  to  have  been 
Jehan  de  Vignay's  version  of  the  original  Latin  text.  This 
edition  of  the  Chess  Boole  bears  the  date  1475,  and  there  are 
nine  copies  extant  which  have  been  listed  in  the  Appendix.2 
That  this  edition  has  become  much  sought  for  may  be  observed 
from  the  prices  paid  for  copies  at  sales  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  century;  for  instance,  one  copy  sold  for  £10 1.3 

A  second  edition  of  The  Game  and  Playe  of  Chesse,  also  pub- 
lished by  William  Caxton,  is  dated  1483,  and  references  have 
been  found  to  some  seven  extant  copies  of  this  edition.4  Four 
of  these  copies,  however,  have  several  pages  missing ;  the  remain- 
ing three  seem  to  be  perfect.  The  copies  of  this  edition,  like 
those  of  the  first,  have  been  much  sought  after  by  book  collec- 
tors.5 


1CL  Blades,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  i,  pp.  136  sqq.;  Vol.  n,  pp.  155  sqq. 

2  See  Appendix  d. 

8This  book  was  bought  by  Mr.  J.  Holford.  Of.  Blades,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  n, 
pp.  8-12,  where,  among  others,  we  find  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  paid  £42 
for  a  copy,  and  Mr.  H.  Cunliffe  gave  £62  10s.  for  another  copy. 

*  See  Appendix  d. 

5  As  an  instance  of  the  high  value  placed  on  this  edition  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  a  copy  was  sold  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  about  1850  for 
£173  5s.  For  other  prices  cf.  Blades,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  n,  pp.  95-98. 


30  2® 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

The  other  work  of  Jehan  de  Vignay  translated  into  English 
was  the  Legende  DoreeS  This,  like  the  Chess  Book,  was  trans- 
lated by  William  Caxton,  and  it  was  first  printed  by  him  in 
1483  under  the  title  The  Golden  Legend.  In  1487  a  second 
edition  was  issued  by  Caxton. 

Of  the  first  edition  of  The  Golden  Legend  numerous  copies 
are  extant,  as  noted  later  in  the  Appendix.2  This  edition  was 
a  great  undertaking  for  those  early  days  of  printing,  for  it  con- 
sisted of  some  four  hundred  and  forty-nine  folios.  All  the 
existing  copies  are  unfortunately  incomplete,  that  is,  have  some 
pages  wanting  throughout  the  work.3  The  copies  of  Caxton'* 
second  edition  are  also  fragmentary ;  they  are  five  in  number, 
all  of  which  have  been  bound  together  with  copies  of  the  first 
edition.4 

The  popularity  of  The  Golden  Legend  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  five  other  English  editions  appeared  after  the  death  of 
Caxton.  Four  of  these  were  published  by  Caxton' s  successor, 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  in  the  years  1493,  1498,  1512,  and  1527. 
July  an  Notary  also  published  an  edition  in  1503.  In  section 
d  of  the  Appendix  have  been  collected  the  references  to  copies 
of  these  later  editions  of  Caxton's  Golden  Legend.  Hence  it 
is  unnecessary  to  give  here  any  further  details  concerning  them. 

It4is  also  not  a  mere  supposition  that  Caxton  translated  from 
Jehan  de  Vignay,  and  not  from  the  Latin  original  or  some  other 
French  version.  For  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Golden  Legend 
Caxton  himself  states  that  he  translated  from  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay, although  he  had  the  Latin,  and  other  French  and  English 
versions  before  him.  Caxton  also  makes  the  same  statement 
concerning  his  Chess  Book.5  In  fact  we  find  that  Caxton  fol- 
lowed Jehan  de  Vignay  rather  closely  in  his  translation,  as  may 
be  shown  by  a  short  parallel  reference  to  the  versions  of  the  two 
authors.  In  the  first  place,  let  us  take  a  few  lines  of  the  French 

1  See  P.  Butler,  op.  cit.,  pp.  35  sqq.  2  See  Appendix  d. 

8  Blades  records  that  the  Due  d'  Aumale  paid  £230  for  one  of  these  de- 
fective copies. 

4  See  Appendix  d. 

6  See  Blades,  o^  sit.,  Vol.  n,  pp.  8-12. 


Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  31 

of  Jehan  de  Vignay  found  in  the  British  Museum  manuscript, 
Harley  5440, 1  from  which  it  is  most  likely  that  Caxton  made 
his  translation.  The  French  version  is  as  follows : 

"  II  nest  au  Jour  Duy  nulle  chose  qui  tant  grieue  Rome  ne 
ytalie  come  fait  le  college  Des  notaries  publicques  Car  ilz  ne 
sont  mie  a  un  accort  ensemble." 

The  corresponding  English  passage  is: 

"  For  ther  is  no  thynge  at  this  day  that  so  much  greueth  rome 
and  Italye  as  doth  the  College  of  notaries  and  aduocates  pub- 
licques. For  they  ben  not  of  oon  a  corde."  2 

When  we  consider  that  Caxton  selected  the  works  of  Jehan 
de  Vignay  from  which  to  make  his  translations  and  thus  give 
them  the  distinction  of  being  among  the  very  earliest  English 
printed  books,  and,  moreover  that  his  successors  continued 
publishing  the  same  works,  we  may  conclude  that  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay's  influence  on  English  literature  was  quite  appreciable,  at 
least  in  the  early  days  of  printing.3 

D.  LATIN  SOURCE  OF  THE  FABLES. 

While  the  ultimate  source  of  the  short  collection  of  ^Esopic 
fables  contained  in  Jehan  de  Vignay's  Mireoir  Historial  is  prob- 
ably to  be  found  in  Classical  Greek  literature,4  it  will  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  purposes  of  the  present  dissertation  to  investigate 
our  author's  immediate  source.  This  latter  is  readily  shown 
to  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  remainder  of  the  work;  namely, 
the  Speculum  Historiale  of  Vincentius  Bellovacensis,  which  con- 
tains the  same  set  of  fables  in  a  Latin  prose  form. 

Vincentius  Bellovacensis  was  a  Dominican  monk  who  lived 

1  Cf.  supra,  p.  23. 

2Cf.  Blades,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  135. 

'  Hervieux,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  i,  p.  406,  states  that  Caxton  made  two  English 
editions  of  the  Mirour  of  the  World.  Undoubtedly  this  is  not  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Mireoir  Historial,  but  of  the  Image  du  Monde  by  Gautier  de 
Metz.  This  is  also  corroborated  by  Dr.  G.  C.  Keidel  who  has  seen  a  copy 
of  the  English  edition  in  the  Lenox  Library,  New  York. 

*  Cf.  J.  Jacobs,  History  of  the  &sopic  Fable,  p.  xx. 


32  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jelian  de   Vignay. 

from  1190  (?)  to  1264,  and  who  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with 
St.  Louis  (Louis  IX,  King  of  France,  1226-1270).  Indeed  it 
was  he  who  assisted  the  King  very  largely  in  the  formation  of 
the  newly-founded  Royal  Library  at  Paris,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  manuscripts  of  the  King  supplied  him  with  the  neces- 
sary materials  for  his  own  voluminous  writings.1 

The  Speculum  Historiale,  the  most  popular  of  all  his  works, 
was  written  in  Latin  prose,  by  the  order  of  his  royal  patron,  St. 
Louis.  In  its  manuscript  form  this  is  a  massive  work  of  four 
thick  folio  volumes  divided  into  thirty-two  books  giving  a  gen- 
eral survey  of  the  history  of  the  world  from  the  Creation  to  the 
beginning  of  the  Thirteenth  Century. 

After  a  very  brief  account  of  the  ancient  nations  of  the  East, 
the  author  proceeds  to  treat  of  the  history  of  the  Persians  in 
Book  IV.  In  enumerating  the  historic  events  of  the  reign  of 
Cyrus  the  Great,  he  puts  down  as  the  most  important  occurrence 
in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  the  killing  of  ^Esop  by  the  people 
of  Delphi,  and  proceeds  to  give  a  short  account  of  his  life  and 
work  in  fable  literature. 

At  this  point  our  author  gives  by  way  of  illustration  a  collec- 
tion of  twenty-nine  ^Esopic  fables,  which  he  inserts  bodily  into 
his  text.  It  seems  likely  that  the  general  moral  character  of 
these  fables  recommended  them  to  the  attention  of  our  author 
as  being  in  close  accord  with  the  tone  of  all  his  own  writings. 
In  further  support  of  this  statement  it  is  to  be  noted  that  espe- 
cial emphasis  is  placed  on  the  lives  and  deaths  of  the  Christian 
martyrs,  as  would  naturally  be  expected  in  a  universal  history 
written  by  a  monk.2 

If  we  turn  our  attention  now  to  the  text  of  the  fables,  we 
find  that  Jehan  de  Vignay  has  given  a  very  close  translation  of 
his  Latin  original.  Apparently  he  does  not  attempt  to  expand 
the  text  of  his  model,  although  he  makes  a  few  mistakes,  as  will 


*Cf.  L.  Delisle,  Cab.  des  Mss.,  Vol.  I,  p.  8. 

2  This  fact  was  personally  verified  by  an  examination  of  MS.  fr.  316  of 
the  Bibl.  Nationale,  Paris,  containing  Jehan  de  Vignay's  translation. 


^Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 


33 


be  noted  below.1  We  can  not,  however,  make  the  same  statement 
concerning  all  the  translations  by  Jehan  de  Vignay.  It  has 
already  been  mentioned  2  that  he  has  shown  originality  in  others 
of  his  works,  and  made  many  important  additions  to  them. 

To  show  how  closely  our  author  follows  his  Latin  original  in 
the  fables  under  discussion,  specimens  of  both  the  Latin  and  the 
French  texts,  arranged  in  parallel  columns,  will  next  be  given. 
Let  us  compare  first  a  few  lines  of  the  introduction  to  the  fa- 
bles: 


VlNCENTIUS  BELLOVACENSIS.3 

Anno  regni  primo  Hesopua  a 
Delphis  interimitur. 

Extant  Hesopi  fabule  elegan- 
tes et  famose  quas  Romulus  qui- 
dam  de  Greco  in  Latinum  transtu- 
lit  et  ad  filium  suum  Tyberinum 
dirigit,  ita  scribens: 

De  civitate  Attica  Hesopus  qui- 
dam  homo  grecus  et  ingeniosus  fa- 
mulos  suos  docet  quid  observare  de- 
beant  homines.  Et  ut  vitam  homi- 
num  ostendat  et  mores,  inducit 
aves  et  arbores  bestiasque  loquen- 
tes,  probanda  cuiuslibet  fabula. 


JEHAN  DE  VIGNAY.* 

En  1'an  du  regne  Cyre  premier 
Esope  est  occis  de  Delphins. 

L'Aucteur.  Les  fables  de  Esope 
sont  nobles  et  renommees  les  queles 
Romulus,  un  Grec,  estrait  de  Grec 
en  Latin  et  les  envoia  a  son  filz, 
Tyberim,  escrivant  ainsi : 

"  De  la  cite  de  Atice  Esope,  un 
homme  grec  et  engigneus  enseigne 
ses  sergens  quel  chose  les  hommes 
doivent  garder.  Et  a  fin  que  il 
devise  et  demonstre  la  vie  des  hom- 
mes et  les  meurs  il  amaine  a  ce 
arbres,  oysiaus  et  bestes  parlans 
a  prouver  chascune  fable." 


If  we  carefully  compare  these  parallel  passages,  it  is  at  once 
apparent  that  Jehan  de  Vignay  closely  imitates  the  style  of  Vin- 
centius  Bellovacensis.  The  former  even,  as  it  seems,  places  his 
words  as  near  as  possible  in  the  same  order  as  those  in  Latin. 
Thus  in  the  first  sentence  he  places  the  adjective  "  premier  " 
after  "  Cyre,"  as  if  it  modified  that  noun  and  not  "  an,"  as  con- 
veyed by  the  Latin  "  primo  "in  "  anno  regni  Cyri  primo." 

This  and  similar  examples  tend  to  prove  that  Jehan  de  Vig- 


1  See  infra,  pp.  33-36.  2  See  supra,  pp.  12,  22,  24,  25,  and  27. 

3  See  L.  Hervieux,  Les  Fabulistes  Latins,  Phedre,  Vol.  n,  2nd  ed.,  Paris, 
1894,   p.    234. 
*  See  Part  II. 


34  2E 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

nay's  translation  is  merely  a  mechanical  rendering  of  the  words 
without  strict  attention  to  the  sense. 

It  is  to  be  noted  further  that  between  the  first  and  second  sen- 
tences we  have  the  words  "  L'Aucteur  "  l  inserted  in  the  French 
version.  Although  the  interpolation  exists  in  this  form  in  all 
the  manuscripts  of  the  fables,2  the  Latin  text  published  by  Her- 
vieux,3  as  well  as  that  of  Inc.  1480  bis  B,  Bibl.  de  1' Arsenal, 
Paris,4  contains  the  words:  "  Eusebius  et  actor."  The  same 
words  appear  again  at  the  conclusion  of  the  fables.5  They  are 
written  in  red  ink  like  all  titles  in  all  but  the  late  manuscripts. 

In  the  second  sentence  we  find  that  our  author  again  trans- 
lates very  literally.  The  only  noticeable  difference  between 
the  original  and  the  translation  is  that  the  French  has  after 
"  Romulus  "  the  words  "  un  grec,"  whereas  "  quidam  "  appears 
in  the  Latin  original.  This  discrepancy  and  evident  error  (as 
Romulus  sounds  like  a  Roman  name)  may  be  explained  by  the 
proximity  of  the  words  "  de  greco  "  to  "  Romulus  "  in  the  Latin. 

In  the  next  sentence  there  is  no  variation  at  all  from  the  Latin, 
and  the  translation  is  as  literal  as  possible. 

However,  in  the  fourth  sentence  we  find  what  might  appear 
a  slight  attempt  at  originality  of  style;  namely,  the  expansion 
of  "  ostendat "  into  "  devise  et  demonstre."  But  as  this  is 
doubtless  a  common  phrase  in  Old  French  and  suits  here  very 
well  our  author  readily  adopted  it.  The  remainder  of  the  text 
is  translated  literally. 

As  a  second  specimen  of  Jehan  de  Vignay's  methods  of  work 
we  may  cite  a  passage  taken  from  about  the  middle  of  his  fable 
collection,  and  compare  it  with  the  original: 

1  Cf.  P.  Meyer  in  Romania  I,  364:  Spec,  histor.,  xxix,  108.     Author  (c'est- 
a-dire   Vincent   lui-me'me). 

2  See  Part  II. 

sCf.  Hervieux,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  n,  2nd  ed.,  pp.  234-245.  The  text  here  is 
taken  from  the  second  edition  of  Mentelin. 

4  A  copy  of  the  fables  in  this  incunabulum  was  made  by  Dr.  G.  C.  Keidel 
in  1897. 

*  See  Part  II. 


M 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 


35 


VlNCENTIUS   BELLOVACENSIS.1 

Item  contra  pauperum  super- 
bum.  In  prato  quodam  Rana  ui- 
dit  pascentem  Bouem:  putabat  se 
posse  fieri  talem,  si  rugosam  im- 
pleret  pellem,  et  inflans  se  natos 
suos  interrogauit.  Sum  ipsa  quan- 
ta Bos?  Dixerunt  non. 


JEHAN  DE  ViGNAY.2 

De  rechief  centre  le  povre  orgueil- 
leus.  Une  raine  vit  un  buef  pes- 
sant  en  un  pre  et  cuidoit  que  ele 
peust  estre  faite  icele  se  ele  emploit 
sa  piau  froncie.  Et  ele  enflant 
soy,  demanda  a  ses  filz  se  ele  estoit 
ja  aussi  grant  comme  un  buef,  et  il 
distrent  que  non. 


Here,  again,  we  notice  the  closeness  in  forms,  order,  and  con- 
struction between  the  French  text  and  its  original.  Jehan  de 
Vignay,  however,  leaves  his  model  in  the  last  part  of  this  pas- 
sage, and  changes  the  question  and  answer  to  the  indirect  form ; 
that  is,  he  has  here  preferred  to  keep  to  one  style  of  narration, 
instead  of  changing  to  the  direct  form  of  address,  as  does  his 
Latin  original. 

Another  illustration,  taken  from  toward  the  end  of  the  collec- 
tion, may  now  be  finally  given: 


VINCENTIUS  BELLOVACENSIS.* 

Item  contra  pigros.  Formica 
hyeme  frumentum  ex  cauerna  tra- 
hens  siccabat  quod  estate  colligens 
coagulauerat.  Cycada  autem  earn 
rogabat  esuriens  ut  daret  aliquid 
illi  de  cibo,  ut  uiueret. 


JEHAN  DE  VIGNAY.  4 

De  rechief  contre  les  peresceus. 
Le  formi  el  temps  d'yver  traioit 
le  fourment  de  sa  fosse  hors  et  le 
sechoit,  le  quel  fourment  il  avoit 
conqueilli  en  este.  Le  gresillon  si 
le  prioit  que  il  li  donnast  aucune 
chose  de  viande  pour  vivre,  car  il 
mouroit  de  fain. 


This,  again,  illustrates  how  closely  our  author  followed  Vin- 
centius  Bellovacensis  in  his  translation.  A  few  points  may  be 
commented  upon,  as  his  rendering  of  "  hyeme,"  an  ablative  of 
time,  by  "el  temps  d'yver"  instead  of  the  more  usual  "en  yver." 
This  preposition  "  en "  he  employs  a  few  lines  below  in  the 
phrase  "  en  este,"  as  a  translation  for  "  estate."  Moreover 


'See  Hervieux,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  2nd  ed.,  p.  240.  3  See   Part   II. 

8  See  Hervieux,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  n,  2nd  ed.,  p.  245.  *  See  Part  II. 


36  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

for  the  relative  "  quod  "  he  gives  in  French  both  the  relative 
and  its  antecedent,,  "  le  quel  fourment."  Again  he  condenses 
"  colligens  coagulauerat  "  into  "  avoit  conqueilli."  Finally  de 
Vignay  expands  the  participle  "  esuriens  "  into  the  clause  "  car 
il  mouroit  de  fain." 

But  these  changes,  as  well  as  those  mentioned  before,  are  of 
minor  importance,  and  remembering  that  this  same  general 
closeness  in  forms  and  constructions  prevails  throughout  the 
whole  collection  we  may  safely  conclude  that  Jehan  de  Vignay 
translated  as  literally  as  possible. 

E.     SCHEME   OF   FABLE   MANUSCRIPTS. 

Before  attempting  to  show  the  relations  that  exist  among  the 
manuscripts  of  the  Mireoir  Historial,  which  contain  the  .ZEsopic 
fables,  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  brief  description  of  these  manu- 
scripts. Out  of  the  forty-one  manuscripts  1  so  far  found  that 
contain  some  portion  of  the  Mireoir  Historial  of  Jehan  de  Vig- 
nay, there  seem  to  be  only  nine  which  have  the  text  of  the  fables. 
These  nine  manuscripts  are  the  following  arranged  in  alphabeti- 
cal order  according  to  the  cities  where  they  are  now  preserved : 

LIST  OF  MANUSCRIPTS. 
« 

A  =  Besangon,  Bibl.  Municipale,  434 

(fol.  371-375).  (1372  A.  D.) 

B  =  Leiden,  Universiteits  Bibliotheek, 

Vossianus  gallicus,  folio  3  A.  (ab.  1345  A.  D.) 
C  =  London,  British  Museum,  Royal 

14  E.  i.  (ab.  1500  A.  D.) 

D  =  Paris,  Bibl.  Rationale,  fr.  50 

(anc.  6731;  542).  (ab.  1.460  A.  D.) 

E  =  Paris,  Bibl.  Rationale,  fr.  308 

(anc,  6930;  257),  (1455  A.  D.) 

*See  Appendix  6. 


Msopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  37 

F  =  Paris,    Bibl.    Rationale,    fr.    312 

(anc.  6934;  62:  Exp.  27).  (1396  A.  D.) 

G:=  Paris,  Bibl.  Rationale,  fr.  316 

(anc.  6938;  412).  (1333  A.  D.) 

H  =  Paris,  Bibl.  Rationale,  fr.  6354 

(anc.  suppl.  46;  Bethune).  (ab.  1450  A.  D.) 

I  =  Koma,  Bibl.  Vaticana,  Eeg.  538.  (ab.  1465  A.  D.) 

The  fable  manuscripts  may  now  be  considered  in  detail  in 

the  order  given  above. 

% 

MS.  A. 

MS.  434  of  the  Bibliotheque  Municipale  in  Besangon  bears 
the  date  of  1372  A.  D.,  and,  therefore,  is  especially  important 
because  it  is  the  third  oldest  manuscript  under  discussion,  being 
about  forty  years  after  the  composition  of  the  Mireoir  HistoriaU 
In  the  description  given  in  the  printed  catalog  2  of  the  library 
this  manuscript  is  shown  to  be  a  compilation  of  portions  of  sev- 
eral works.  It  is  entitled  on  the  back :  "  Traites  philosophiques 
et  moraux,"  which  title  is  appropriate  to  its  contents.  Among 
other  moral  and  philosophical  treatises  in  the  collection  are  two 
of  the  works  of  Jehan  de  Vignay.  The  first  is  the  Livre  des 
Eschez,  and  the  other  is  an  isolated  portion  of  the  Mireoir  His- 
torial,  which  contains  only  the  fables.  It  is  to  be  especially 
noted  that  out  of  the  whole  four  folio  volumes  of  the  latter  work, 
which  amount  to  some  sixteen  hundred  leaves,  the  fables  alone, 
which  occupy  only  four  leaves,  have  been  copied  by  the  compiler 

1  Cf.  supra,  p.    18,  the  date  of  composition  being  about   1332-1333. 

2  Cf.  Catalogue  General  des  Manuscrits  des  Bibliotheques  Publiques  de 
France.     Departements.     Tome  xxxii:   Besangon,  Vol.  i,  Paris,  1897.     See 
pp.   250-253.     In  the  description  of  MS.   434  there  are  mentioned  Jehan 
de  Vignay's  Le  Livre  des  Eschez  followed  by  a  collection  of  prose  fables, 
whose  source  the  cataloger  does  not  give.     When  these  fables  were  com- 
pared with  those  in  MS.  fr.  316  of  the  Bibl.  Nationale  they  were  seen  to 
be  an  extract  from  the  Mireoir  Historial. 


38  ^Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de  Vignay. 

of  this  miscellany.1  The  text  of  these  fables  has  been  photo- 
graphed for  use  in  the  present  dissertation.2  They  were  written 
in  a  very  legible  Gothic  hand,  the  same  in  which  all  the  rest  of 
the  manuscript  is  written.  At  the  beginning  there  are  four 
miniatures  3  illustrating  the  following  four  fables  in  the  col- 
lection : 

I.  The  Lamb  and  the  Wolf. 

II.  The  Frog  and  the  Mouse. 

VI.  The  Crow  and  the  Fox. 

V.  The  Wolf  and  the  Crane. 

The  fables  are  found  in  this  manuscript  between  folios  371 
verso,  col.  1,  and  375  recto,  col.  2.  The  total  number  of  folios 
in  this  manuscript  is  four  hundred. 

MS.  B. 

The  second  manuscript  is  in  the  University  Library  of  Lei- 
den. Its  shelf  number  is  Codex  Vossianus  gallicus,  3  A :  it  was 
written  before  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  is  there- 
fore next  to  the  oldest  manuscript  containing  our  fables.4  This 


'Hervieux,  loc.  cit.,  notes  that  this  fable  collection  also  occurs  in  Latin 
manuscripts  apart  from  the  whole  Speculum  Historiale.  This  would  evi- 
dence a  greater  popularity  in  the  Middle  Ages  for  the  fables  than  for  the 
rest  of  the  work. 

2  This  photograph  was  very  kindly  made  at  Paris    (whither  the  manu- 
script had  been  sent  by  request)  and  sent  to  me  in  May,  1905,  by  Dr.  M.  P. 
Brush  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

3  Cf.  the  facsimile  given  at  the  beginning  of  this  monograph. 

4  Cf.  L.  Delisle's  article  on  the  Manuscrits  royales  du  Mireoir  Historial 
du  xive  Siecle  in  Gazette  Archeologique,  Vol.  xi,  Paris,  1886,  pp.  87-101. 
On  the  inside  of  the  rear  covering  of  the  manuscript  M.  Delisle  deciphers, 
"  Cest  livre  est  le  due  de  Normandie  et  de  Guienne.     Jehan."    The  hand- 
writing of  this  note  corresponds  with  another  specimen  of  his  writing  to 
be  found  at  the  end  of  a  French   Chronicle    (B.  N.   fr.   67).     As  Jehan 
did  not  become  king  until   1350,  the  manuscript  must  have  been  written 
between  1333    (the  date  of  its  composition)    and  1350,  else  it  would  have 
been  signed  Jehan,  Roi. 


Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  .     39 

manuscript  contains  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  folios,  and 
our  fables  are  situated  between  folios  117  and  121. 

Like  the  earliest  manuscript  of  this  series,  B.  ~N.  fr.  316, 
this  one  includes  the  first  eight  books  of  the  Mireoir  Historial.'1 
Likewise  the  first  illustration  in  both  manuscripts  is  identical.2 
The  Leiden  manuscript  has  in  all  two  hundred  and  eighty  illus- 
trations. It  was  first  owned  by  King  John  II  (1350-1364) 
while  he  was  still  Duke  of  Normandy  and  Guyenne,  and  later 
by  Charles  V  (1364-1380).  This  is  known  from  the  signatures 
at  the  back  of  the  manuscript.3  The  initial  rubric  of  the  man- 
uscript is  as  follows : 

"  Ci  commence  le  premier  Volume  du  Mirouer  hystorial 
.  translate  [de  latin]  en  frangoiz  par  la  main  Jehan  de 
Vignay,  a  la  requeste  de  tres  haute  et  tres  excellente  dame 
Jehanne  de  Bourgongne,  roynne  de  France.  Et  fu  com- 
mence on  quint  an  de  son  regne,  Tan  de  grace  mil  CCC  et 
XXXII,  selonc  1'opinion  de  frere  Vincent,  qui  en  latin  le 
compila  a  la  requeste  de  Monseigneur  saint  Loys,  jadis 
roy  de  France.77  4 

MS.  C. 

v- 

The  next  manuscript  is  Royal  14.  E.  i.,  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, London.  This,  like  the  preceding,  contains  the  first  eight 
books  of  the  Mireoir  Historial,  and  the  fables  are  to  be  found 
between  folios  133b  and  137b  (Book  IV,  ch.  2-8).  It  is  also 
beautifully  illustrated,  and  Mr.  Thompson  thus  describes  the 
first  miniature : 

"  The  scribe  is  writing  at  a  desk  fitted  on  a  cranked  pivot 
which  enables  him  to  draw  it  well  over  his  knees.  His  magni- 
fying glass  stands  on  an  adjacent  table.  The  walls  of  the  room 

1  There  are  altogether  thirty-two  books  in  the  Mireoir  Historial.     These 
are,  as  a  rule,  divided  into  four  volumes  with  eight  books  to  a  volume. 

2  See  infra,  pp.  42-44.  3  Cf .  L.  Delisle,  loc.  cit. 

*  The   copy   of    this    manuscript    I    owe   to    the    good    offices    of    Dr.    E. 
Slijper  of  Leiden. 


40  <ffisopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

are  fitted  up  with  sloping  shelves,  the  protecting  curtains  of 
which,  half-drawn,  disclose  that  they  are  well-filled  with  hand- 
some volumes."  1 

It  must  have  been  copied  toward  the  very  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  as  it  was  written  for  Henry  VII  of  England  (1485- 
1509),  "whose  arms,  with  the  parti-coloured  red-and-white  rose, 
are  painted  in  the  border."  2  The  copying  was  done  at  Bruges.3 

MS.D. 

The  fourth  manuscript  in  our  list  is  fr.  50  of  the  Bibliotheque 
Rationale.  Its  date  is  unknown,  but  it  was  probably  written 
later  than  1450.  The  fables  are  to  be  found  between  leaves  92 
recto,  col.  1,  and  94  verso,  col.  2.  This  manuscript  is  of  vellum, 
and  the  text  is  ornamented  with  miniatures  and  floriated  letters. 
The  handwriting  and  grammatical  constructions  would  indicate 
that  this  was  written  somewhat  later  than  most  of  the  other 
Paris  manuscripts  of  the  Mireoir  Historial  containing  the  fa- 
bles.4 The  title  is:  "  Le  Mirouer  historial  de  Vincent  translate 
par  Jehan  du  Vignay."  It  commences  as  the  others  with : 

"  Pour  ce  que  oiseuse  chose  nuisant  .  .  .  ." 

MS.  E. 

The  fifth  manuscript  of  our  series  is  fr.  308  of  the  Biblio- 
theque Rationale.  This,  again,  is  one  of  the  later  manuscripts 
containing  our  fables,  as  its  date  is  1455.  The  fourth  volume 
of  this  copy  concludes  with :  "  Cy  fine  le  Mireoir  hystorial,  et  f u 
acompli  Tan  MCCCCLV,  le  Vie  jour  de  septembre."  It  is 

1Cf.  E.  Maunde  Thompson,  Calligraphy  in  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  259-270. 

2  Cf .  E.  Maunde  Thompson,  op.  cit.,  pp.  289-290. 

3  The  fables  of  this  manuscript  were  photographed  for  me  in  1906  by  Mr. 
Donald  Macbeth  of  London. 

4  The  manuscripts  fr.  50,  308,  312,  316,  6354,  in  the  Bibliotheque  Natio- 
nale  were  studied  and  compared  during  the  summer  of  1905.     The  fables 
in  all  of  these  manuscripts  were  copied  by  Mile.  Emilie  Klis  of  Paris, 
except  fr.   316  which  I  collated  myself. 


JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  41 

written  on  vellum,  and  is  adorned  with  miniatures  and  floria- 
tions.  The  introduction  is  very  similar  to  the  foregoing,  and 
reads  as  follows :  "  le  Miroir  historial  de  Frere  Vincent 
translate  par  Jehan  Du  Vignay."  The  beginning  of  the  text 
proper  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  manuscript  just  described. 
In  this  manuscript  the  fables  are  contained  between  folios  117 
verso,  col.  2,  and  120  verso,  col.  2.  The  total  number  of 
leaves  is  three  hundred  and  eighty-one. 

MS.  F. 

The  next  manuscript  in  our  list  is  fr.  312,  Bibliotheque 
Rationale.  It  is  the  fourth  oldest  and  is  dated  1396. 1  It 
was  a  royal  manuscript,  being  made  for  Louis,  Due  d? Orleans 
(1371-1407),  under  the  supervision  of  Thevenin  Angevin,  who 
also  had  charge  of  the  copying  of  the  other  three  volumes  of 
the  Mireoir  Historial  by  the  orders  of  the  same  duke.2  That 
this  manuscript  is  still  considered  very  beautiful  and  inter- 
esting, is  attested  by  the  fact  that  it  is  now  kept  in  the  Expo- 
sition room  of  the  Manuscript  Department,  which  is  open  to 
all  visitors  twice  weekly.3  It  is  written  in  a  Gothic  hand  o.u 
parchment,  and  is  adorned  .with  floriated  letters  and  miniatures. 
Altogether  it  has  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  illustrations. 
The  latter  correspond  often  with  the  illustrations  in  the  Leiden 
manuscript,  already  described,  as  well  as  with  many  in  tha 
next  manuscript  to  be  discussed,  Bibl.  Rationale,  fr.  316. 


1  The  exact  date  is  Friday,  June  1,  1396. 

2  Cf.  L.  Delisle,  loc.  cit.     Delisle  also  argues  that  the  series  fr.  312,  313, 
314  are  copied  from  that  series  in  which  the  first  volume  is  our  above- 
mentioned  Leiden  MS.     Volume  n  of  this  later  group  is  fr.  5080,  Bibl.  de 
1' Arsenal,  Paris.     Delisle's  evidence  is  based  on  the  fact  that  in  these  later 
MSS.  are  copied  the  two  lions,  the  royal  insignia  of  Charles  V  ( 1364-1380 1, 
who  possessed  the  older  manuscripts  from  which  they  were  copied. 

3  Its  exposition  number  is  X,  27 ;  that  is,  number  27  in  showcase  X.     The 
attendants  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  were  very  courteous  to  me  in  al- 
lowing me  to  keep  it  out  continuously  for  almost  two  weeks,  although  the 
rules  required  it  to  be  returned  to  its  showcase  on  visitor's  days. 


42  JEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

The  fables  are  to  be  found  between  folios  124  recto,  col.  2,  and 
127  verso,  col.  2,  of  the  total  three  hundred  and  fifty-four  leaves. 
In  the  Introduction  to  this  manuscript  the  title  of  the  work  is 
written :  "  Mireoir  hystorial  translate  par  f rere  Jehan  de  Vig- 
.nay."  The  beginning  of  the  text  itself  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  two  preceding  manuscripts  (fr.  50  and  fr.  308). 

MS.  G. 

The  seventh  manuscript,  then,  in  accordance  with  our  plan, 
would  be  fr.  316  of  the  Bibliotheque  Rationale.  Of  its  total 
three  hundred  and  fourteen  leaves  the  fables  occur  between 
folios  138  verso,  col.  1,  and  141  verso,  col.  2.  At  the  end  this 
manuscript  bears  the  -date  1333  in  Arabic  numerals.  The 
second  three  of  this  date  is  slightly  blurred,  appearing  as  if 
someone  had  tried  to  erase  it.  But,  after  a  very  careful  ex- 
amination, it  seemed  to  me  to  be  undoubtedly  a  three  and  not 
the  figure  eight,  as  M.  Leopold  Delisle  thought  when  he  wrote 
his  first  volume  of  the  Cabinet  des  Manuscrits  de  la  Biblio- 
theque  Imperiale.1  M.  Delisle  has  changed  this  former  view, 
and  now  believes,  as  did  Paulin  Paris,2  that  the  date  should 
be  read  1333. 3  A  few  paragraphs  later,  when  a  comparison 

*L.  Delisle,  Cabinet  des  Manuscrits  de  la  Bibliotheque  Imperiale,  Paris, 
1868,  Vol.  I,  p.  14,  note  10.  "  Suivant  le  mgme  auteur  (Paris,  Les  manu- 
scrits  fransois,  II,  328),  le  ms.  frangais  316  serait  le  premier  volume  de 
1'exemplaire  qui  dut  etre  oifert  a  la  reine.  Le  frontispice,  qui  represents, 
d'une  part,  saint  Louis  et  Vincent  de  Beauvais,  d'autre  part,  Jeanne  de 
Bourgogne  et  Jean  du  Vignay,  convient  assez  bien  a  un  exemplaire  original. 
Je  n'£l£verais  aucune  objection  si  je  croyais,  comme  M.  Paris,  que  la  date 
tracee  a  la  fin  du  ms.  doit  etre  lue  1333;  mais  il  me  semble  que  le  veritable 
legon  est  1383,  et  j'en  conclus  que  le  ms.  316  est,  non  pas  1'exemplaire 
original,  mais  une  copie  dans  laquelle  la  miniature  de  presentation  a 
e"te"  fidelement  reproduite." 

2  P.  Paris,  Les  Manuscrits  francois,  Paris,  1838,  Vol.  n,  p.  328. 

3  L.  Delisle,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  in,  p.  324.     Under  the  caption  of  additions  and 
corrections  to  his  monumental  work,  Delisle  says,  "  Un  examen  plus  atten- 
tif  du  ms.  316  me  porte  a  croire  que  la  date  de  la  souscription  finale  porte 
bien  1333,  et  non  pas  1383.     Je  me  rallie  done  a  I'opinion  de  M.  Paulin 
Paris  qui  a  vu  dans  le  ms.   316   le   premier  volume   de  1'exemplaire   du 


jEsopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  43 

of  the  language  of  this  manuscript  with  that  of  the  other 
manuscript  will  be  made,  some  further  evidence  will  be  added 
to  show  that  1333,  and  not  1383,  is  the  proper  date  of  the 
manuscript.  Thus  it  becomes  a  very  important  manuscript 
when  we  consider  that  it  was  probably  written  by  the  trans- 
lator himself,  Jehan  de  Vignay,  or  else  probably  executed  by 
a  skilled  copyist  and  adorned  with  its  most  beautiful  miniatures 
and  floriated  letters  as  our  author  made  a  rough  copy  of  the 
translation.  The  manuscript  concludes  with :  "  Ci  fenist  le  pre- 
mier volume  du  Mireoir  hystorial,  translate  par  la  main  Jehan 
du  Vingnay."  Then  follows  the  note :  "  Cest  volume  fu  acheve 
Fan  de  grace  mil  CCC  et  XXXIII,  la  veille  Sainte  Katerine."  1 
Whether  this  date  was  put  here  by  de  Vignay  or  his  copyist  does 
not  seem  certain  to  me,  but  the  manuscript  itself  is  evidently  the 
first  volume  of  the  copy  presented  by  the  translator  to  Jeanne 
of  Burgundy.2 

This  oldest  and  probably  original  manuscript  is  very  beauti- 
fully and  legibly  written.  It  has  also  many  fine  illustrations, 
as  do  the  next  three  manuscripts,  fr.  317,  318,  319,  which  con- 
tain the  remaining  three  volumes  of  the  Mireoir  Historial. 
These  are  all  of  folio  size,  and  are  written  on  vellum.  The  cap- 
ital letters  are  adorned  with  very  fanciful  floriations,  and  the 
rubrics  are  written  in  red  ink.  For  a  frontispiece,  manuscript 
fr.  316  has  a  double  illustration  showing,  on  one  side,  St.  Louis 
ordering  the  composition  of  the  work  by  Vincentius  Bellovacen- 
sis,  and,  on  the  other  side,  Jeanne  of  Burgundy  commanding 
Jehan  de  Vignay  to  make  the  translation.3 


Miroir  historial  presents  par  Jean  du  Vignay  a  la  reine  Jeanne  de  Bour- 
gogne."  This  opinion  he  reiterated  in  a  postal  card  to  me,  dated  Jan.  25, 
1904. 

1Nov.  24. 

2  As  we  have  before  noted,  pp.  18,  37,  de  Vignay  probably  made  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Mireoir  Historial  during  the  years  1332-1333. 

8  No  doubt  the  identical  illustration  opposite  to  p.  261  in  Suchier-Birch- 
Hirschfeld,  op.  cit.,  is  taken  from  this  manuscript,  although  no  number  is 
given.  The  text  accompanying  this  illustration  also  starts  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  I  have  quoted. 


44  2Esopic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay. 

There  are  in  all  three  hundred  and  twenty  illustrations  in  this 
manuscript.  These  were  so  well  executed  and  placed  so  appro- 
priately that  the  story  was  readily  understood  without  being 
read,  by  the  members  of  royalty.  For  this  reason  the  work  was 
so  great  a  success,  and  thus  greatly  desired  by  the  princess  of 
the  time.  The  initial  rubric  reads: 

"  Ci  commence  le  premier  volume  du  Mireoir  hystorial,  trans- 
late de  latin  en  fran§ais  par  la  main  Jehan  du  Vingnai,  selonc 
1'opinion  frere  Vincent,  qui  en  latin  le  compila  a  la  requeste 
monseignor  Saint  Loys." 

The  work  proper  commences  with :  "  Pour  ce  que  oiseuse  est 
chose  nuisant  .  .  .  ." 

MS.  H. 

The  manuscript  fr.  6354  of  the  Biblitheque  Rationale  is  the 
next  one  in  our  list.  Its  exact  date  is  unknown,  but  it  is  given 
in  the  manuscript  catalogs  as  belonging  to  the  fifteenth  century. 
From  the  handwriting  and  its  general  appearance  it  would  seem 
to  be  the  most  recent  manuscript  of  them  all,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  the  one  in  London,  already  discussed.1  It  is  writ- 
ten on  paper,  and  has  no  beautiful  embellishments  like  those  of 
the  other  Paris  manuscripts.  The  fables  are  to  be  found  be- 
tween leaves  136  verso  and  140  verso.  The  manuscript  differs 
from  the  rest  in  that  it  is  of  quarto  size,  and  has  only  one  column 
to  a  page.  Moreover  it  contains  only  seven  books,  whereas  the 
others  contain  the  eight  books  of  the  original  first  volume.  The 
remaining  manuscripts  of  this  series,  fr.  6355,  6356,  6357, 
6358,  6359,  are  also  smaller  than  the  first  volumes,  each 
containing  less  than  the  usual  number  of  books. 


supra,  pp.  39-40. 


^E 'so pic  Fables  in  Jehan  de   Vignay.  45 


MS.  I. 

The  ninth  and  last  manuscript  in  our  group  is  Reg.  538  of  the 
Vatican  Library,  Rome.  The  fables,  which  are  contained  on 
folios  91  to  94,  have  been  photographed  on  a  reduced  scale.1 
This  manuscript  belongs  to  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  centu- 
ry.2 It  is  written  on  parchment,  and  contains  two  hundred  and 
sixty-six  leaves,  with  two  columns  to  a  page.  It  is  also  adorned 
with  miniatures  and  floriated  capital  letters:  it  is  bound  in 
greenish  yellow  sheep-skin.  The  contents  of  the  manuscript  are 
normal ;  that  is,  it  contains  the  first  eight  books  of  the  Mireoir 
Historial.  The  introduction  has :  "  Ci  commence  le  premier 
volume  mirouer  historial "  translated  by  "  Jehan  de  Vignay  " 
from  the  Latin  of  "  frere  Vincent."  The  work  itself  has  the 
usual  beginning  already  noted  for  the  other  manuscripts.  The 
conclusion  is: 

"  Ci  fine  le  VHIe  livre  du  mirouer  historial  et  tout  le  pre- 
mier volume  du  dit  mirouer."  3 

NOTE.  The  determination  of  the  relationships  existing  between 
these  various  manuscripts  has  been  omitted,  and  merely  the  result 
has  been  given  in  tabular  form. 


*My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  R.  V.  D.  Magoffin  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  and  Fellow  for  1906-1907  of  the  American  School  of  Classical 
Studies  at  Rome,  for  securing  this  photograph,  which  was  promptly  ob- 
tained in  the  fall  of  1906.  This  was  done  after  several  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts had  been  made  by  correspondence  with  the  Vatican  Library  authori- 
ties. 

2E.  Langlois,  Notices  des  Manuscrits  Frangais  et  Proveneaux  de  Rome 
ante'rieurs  au  xvie  Siecle,  in  Notices  et  Extraits,  Vol.  xxxni,  2me  Partie 
(1889),  pp.  15-16. 

*  Cf .  Langlois,  loc.  tit. 


1332 
1333  , 

ab.  1345 

1372    A 


1396 


ab.  1450 
1455 


ab.  1460 
ab.  1465 


ab.  1500 


MANUSCRIPT  SCHEME. 


±1 

i 


G 


B 


E 


BIOGRAPHY. 


I,  Guy  Everett  Snavely,  was  born  at  Antietam,  Washington 
County,  Md.,  October  26,  1881.  After  completing  the  public 
school  work  of  Baltimore  County,  I  was  prepared  by  Rev.  W.  C. 
Babcock,  Ph.  D.,  of  Baltimore,  for  entrance  to  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  from  which  institution  I  received  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  in  June,  1901.  The  following  year  I  was 
master  of  languages  at  the  Nautical  Academy,  Easton,  Md. 

In  the  fall  of  1902  I  returned  to  the  University  to  take  up 
advanced  work  in  the  Romance  Languages,  with  French  as  a 
principal  subject,  and  Italian  and  Spanish,  first  and  second 
subordinates,  respectively.  The  summer  of  1905  I  spent  studying 
in  London  and  Paris,  and  since  September,  1906,  I  have  been 
teaching  French  in  Allegheny  College,  Meadville,  Pa.,  where  I 
am  now  Assistant  Professor  of  Romance  Languages. 

I  take  this  opportunity  to  extend  the  heartiest  thanks  to 
Prof.  A.  Marshall  Elliott  for  his  inspiring  guidance  and  wholesome 
advice  in  my  graduate  career,  and  also  to  Dr.  George  C.  Keidel 
for  his  valuable  suggestions  concerning  my  dissertation.  Moreover 
I  have  enjoyed  with  profit  the  lectures  and  friendly  interest  of 
Professors  Armstrong,  Ogden,  Brush,  Shaw  and .  Marden  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins,  and  Prof.  F.  M.  Warren  of  Yale  University. 


OF  THE 


it  *~>r     I  Ht 

f    UNIVERSITY 


OF 


47 


